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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 























The Spirit op Adventure 







STEER FOR 
NEW SHORES 


How Medieval Europe Found and Explored America 


BY 

SUSIE M. BEST 

«• 

TEACHER OF HISTORY 
CINCINNATI, OHIO, PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
LECTURER ON HISTORY AND LITERATURE 
AUTHOR OF EGYPT AND HER NEIGHBORS 
GLORIOUS GREECE AND IMPERIAL ROME 
THE NATIONS OF WESTERN EUROPE 
MERRY ENGLAND 


Illustrated by Ludwig and Regina 




BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 
CHICAGO 


'El 10 | 
ft 5 (o 


Copyright, 1929, by 
BECKLEY-CARDY COMPANY 
All Rights Reserved, 



PRINTED IN u. s. A. 

©CIA 16077 


NOV 26 1929 


FOREWORD 


T HIS volume deals with the subject of how me¬ 
dieval Europe found and explored America. The 
action is confined chiefly to the stirring, adventurous 
period of the discovery and exploration of the New 
World. To insure a clear understanding of the state 
of world civilization at that time and of how that 
state had been achieved, a brief moving picture pag¬ 
eant is presented, emphasizing the vital contribu¬ 
tions of ancient nations to the progress of civilization. 

It is the aim of the author to appeal to the imagi¬ 
nation—which predominates in the minds of children 
of the elementary grades—and to inspire them with 
a sympathetic understanding of the heroic courage, 
daring and perseverance that prevailed over seem¬ 
ingly insurmountable obstacles. To achieve this aim 
the conditions of life in medieval Europe, the stir¬ 
rings of conjecture, the breaking away from the 
bonds of ignorance and superstition, the outstanding 
events and the great personalities that dominated 
the times are dealt with in more complete and more 
vivid and picturesque detail than is usual in books 
dealing with early American history. Mere abstract 
condensations and formal statements of facts and 
events have been avoided. The story element has 
been utilized as much as possible and an effort has 
been made to present the narrative as a connected 
pageant of investigation and adventure. 

S. M. B. 


3 
















































































































































CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The March of the Ages. 9 

A glimpse at ancient civilizations; what each 
contributed to the world’s progress. 

II. Old-Time Ideas About the Earth. 25 

The errors of medieval geography and the float¬ 
ing traditions of the times. 

III. The Northmen in America. 33 

The early Viking ideals and customs; Eric the 
Eed and Leif the Lucky. 

IV. The Call of Cathay. 38 

Adventures of Marco Polo and Sir John Man- 
deville. 

V. Medieval Conditions Leading to the Discovery 

of America. 46 


The Dark Ages; the crusades; the renaissance; 
inventions; trade with the East; the fall of 
Constantinople; Prince Henry’s interest in 
navigation; the story of Diaz. 


VI. How Columbus Became a World-Finder. 62 

•Story of Columbus and Da Gama. 

VII. How the Indians Lived. 100 

Indian tribes; their customs, dwellings, war¬ 
fare, religion. 

VIII. How England Sought Cathay. Ill 

The adventures of the Cabots. 

IX. How America Got Its Name. 118 


The line of Demarkation; Cabral’s discovery 
of Brazil; the voyages of Americus Vespucius. 

5 











6 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

X. The Discovery of the Pacific. 123 

The story of Balboa. 

XI. Circumnavigating the Globe. 131 

Magellan’s great voyage. 

XII. Spanish Explorations in the Interior of 

America. 140 

Ponce de Leon; Cabeza de Yaca; Cortez; Coro¬ 
nado and Be Soto. 

XIII. Early Spanish Settlements in America. 166 

The missions; Indian slavery; negro slavery; 

Spanish ideals of life. 

XIY. French Adventurers in America. 173 

French aims in the New World; Verrazano; 

Cartier; Champlain; Joliet and Marquette; the 
French Jesuits and La Salle. 

XY. English Ventures in the New World. 192 

The adventurers in the Elizabethan period; 
Frobisher and Bavis; Sir Humphrey Gilbert; 

Sir Francis Brake; Baleigh. The Armada. 








LIST OF FULL-PAGE MAPS 
AND ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

The Spirit of Adventure. Frontispiece 

Interior of the Parthenon [Restoration]. 16 

The Winged Victory of Samothrace. 19 

Map of the World According to Claudius Ptolemy. 28 

Gutenberg’s First Printing Press. 50 

Map Used by Columbus in His First Voyage. 68 

Sioux Indian Chief. 109 

Map Showing Routes of Early Explorers. 130 


7 























































































































STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


How Medieval Europe Found and 
Explored America 


CHAPTER l 

THE MARCH OF THE AGES 

T HE fifteenth century is a notable one in his¬ 
tory. It brought about the discovery of 
America. At that time the world was ready for 
the important event. The nations about to come 
into the new land were not rude, ignorant sav¬ 
ages. They were civilized people, equipped with a 
knowledge of all that the world had been learning 
for thousands of years. This knowledge would 
give them a good start and enable them to build 
themselves rapidly into a great nation in the 
Land of Opportunity. They were merely going 
to transplant the civilized ideas, ways and cus¬ 
toms of Europe into America, as you might 
transplant a rose-bush from one garden plot to 
another. The transplanted bush simply continues 
growing, bearing its blossoms in a new spot. So 
the civilization of Europe, carried over to Amer- 
9 



10 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


ica, just continued growing in the new land till 
it blossomed into the nation of to-day. 

The civilization thus brought to America had 
its source in the far distant past. We enj oy many 
advantages to-day because the nations of long ago 
toiled and suffered and struggled. To understand 
how we became what we are we must know some¬ 
thing of those nations. As we look back we shall 
see how each one advanced the world’s progress 
by furnishing some helpful idea that has per¬ 
sisted through the ages, even though the nation 
that produced it has died. 

We shall find that civilization is like a stream 
that starts from a tiny spring and grows and en¬ 
larges as tributary streams pour into it, merging 
their waters into one flood. Let us try to find what 
the ideas were that the various nations had sup¬ 
plied to be carried over to America. 

If we could make a little Moving Picture 
Pageant, selecting from each of these nations a 
scene or two descriptive of the great idea it 
contributed, we should better understand the 
share of each in the world’s work. Let us call our 
pageant “The March of the Ages,” and let our 
first pictures teach us about ancient Egypt, which 
was the first civilized nation in the world. 

On our screen, then, we see first a narrow strip 


THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


11 


of fertile land on both sides of the Nile river. 
This valley is Egypt. On either side of the valley 
we catch glimpses of great deserts stretching out 
in the dim distance. Facing the desert sands we 
see mighty monuments of granite and lime¬ 
stone—obelisks, sphinxes and pyramids—monu¬ 
ments that have survived centuries of time. The 
pyramids with their triangular faces are the 
tombs of the kings. 

Across the screen a funeral cortege approaches 
a pyramid. The dead body of the king, or pha¬ 
raoh, as he is called, is about to be entombed. We 
see the coffin case and notice that it is covered 
with strange pictures and signs. These tell the 
story of the dead man’s life. As the picture 
moves we see the procession enter the pyramid 
and pass through a long, narrow corridor to the 
tomb. We see the walls of the tomb covered with 
pictures and signs like those on the coffin case. 
We see the mourners deposit their burden and 
then file slowly out of the tomb. 

Our picture changes and now before us looms a 
great temple with lofty columns. It is a temple 
to the sun god, for these people are heathens wor¬ 
shiping the all-beholding eye of the sun. We ob¬ 
serve that the blocks forming the columns are 
also engraved with the peculiar signs and pic- 


12 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


tures that we saw on the walls of the tomb. In the 
temple we see priests chanting hymns before a 
crocodile, which is also an object of worship. The 
priests are the teachers of the nation and under¬ 
stand the strange picture-writing which is called 
hieroglyphics. 

Other scenes pass before us, and everywhere, 
on the walls of palaces, on the pillars of temples, 
and on the faces of monuments we find the same 
strange writing. We are quite sure that these 
people must have had an alphabet to enable them 
thus to record their thoughts. And this is true. 
The ancient Egyptians were the inventors of the 
alphabet. 

It required long and deep study before this 
marvelous invention was perfected. We learn 
from wise students who have studied out these 
records that the first writing was merely pictures 
which represented objects. This was not a satis¬ 
factory system, for not many thoughts could he 
expressed in this way. 

Finally some genius conceived the idea of mak¬ 
ing the pictures stand for sounds instead of 
things. This made it possible to record all man¬ 
ner of thoughts. It is generally agreed that the 
alphabet was the greatest invention ever made. It 
was the greatest achievement of the ancient 


THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


13 


Egyptians. This alphabet was borrowed by the 
Phoenicians, a race of traders living near Egypt. 
Prom them it 
spread westward 
to the Greeks and 
Romans and 
through these to 
other nations of 
Europe. Each na¬ 
tion altered it to 
suit the needs of 
its language. 

And now that 
we have acknowl¬ 
edged our debt to 
the Egyptians for 
the alphabet, let 
us consider the 
Hebrew and 
Christian contri¬ 
bution to civiliza¬ 
tion. Let us throw 
on the screen a single scene from a very different 
people and a very different region. The country 
is Palestine, a narrow strip of land fringing the 
eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The 
people are the ancient Hebrews. 








14 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Before us flashes a walled city. It is Jerusalem. 
We see a procession of handsome people, dark¬ 
haired, dark-eyed, olive-skinned, dressed in linen 
mantles fastened at the waist with a girdle, and 

wearing sandals on 
their feet. They 
march toward a 
wonderful temple 
located on an emi¬ 
nence. The sun 
shines on this 
temple and lights 
up the plates of 
gold decorating its 
outer walls. This 
is the great temple 
of Solomon, King 
of the Jews, who 
reigned in the long 
ago. 

The picture 
shows us the inte¬ 
rior of the temple. We see walls and doors orna¬ 
mented with gold and jewels. There is a golden 
altar, and beside it a seven-branched candlestick 
of gold. Incense is burning on the altar. On a 
table near-by we see wine and bread. 



















THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


15 


The people enter the temple and seat them¬ 
selves. The priest at the altar seems to address 
them. They bow as he lifts his hands in benedic¬ 
tion. We are sure that this is a religious scene 
and that these people are offering worship to 
their God. 

We see no image and conclude that they cannot 
be idol worshipers. They must be worshiping an 
unseen God. This is the correct explanation of 
the scene. These are the ancient Hebrews, whose 
history is recorded in the books of the Old Testa¬ 
ment. To them belongs the honor of showing the 
world the folly of idolatry, and of teaching it the 
great truth that God is Spirit. 

Among these people, centuries after Solomon 
lived, Jesus was born to become the Messiah, 
the Founder of the Christian faith, which further 
spread through the world the belief in One God. 
This belief is the foundation of the religious 
creeds of Europe and America to-day. We can 
learn all we wish to know of the truths of the 
Hebrew and Christian faiths from the beautiful 
stories in the Bible. 

And now our theme changes. We shall have 
some scenes from the life of the ancient Greeks, 
the nation that taught the world to love the beau¬ 
tiful in architecture, sculpture and poetry. Our 


16 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Interior of the Parthenon ( Restoration ) 











THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


17 


screen shows us the Acropolis, a hill in Athens. 
We notice a flight of marble steps leading to the 
summit, upon which are a number of temples. 
One of these is the Parthenon, sacred to Athena, 
the goddess of Wisdom. 

The Parthenon is built of pure white marble. 
It has a porch with rows of beautiful, symmet¬ 
rical columns. Around the top of its outer wall 
runs a frieze of wonderful sculptures. The 
figures, which are carved with great skill, repre¬ 
sent a procession. We see in it chariots, soldiers, 
horses, priests and maidens. 

A changing view now shows us the interior of 
the temple. In a room sacred to the goddess, we 
see a magnificent statue of Athena. It is over 
forty feet high and is made of gold and ivory. 
The eyes of the statue are green jewels. This is 
the most perfect statue ever made in the world. 
It is the work of Phidias, the world’s master 
sculptor. 

Our screen shows us other noble statues by 
Phidias and companion artists of his times, and 
we are much impressed by the perfect lines of 
these creations. 

Our picture changes, and on a slope of the 
Acropolis appears a Greek theater. This is an 
open air place, half circular in form, with rows 


18 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


of seats rising in tiers one above another. There 
is an open space at the base for the players. We 
see the actors. They are giving a play about their 
gods and goddesses. How strange they look! 
They wear masks to hide their faces. Their thick- 
soled buskins make them appear taller than they 
are. They remind us of boys walking on stilts. In 
the theater the people hear the beautiful lan¬ 
guage of the poets, and love it. 

In the next picture we see a gymnasium build¬ 
ing. Here the teachers are training the boys in all 
athletic exercises. This is to develop a beautiful 
body. The Greeks believed in having a beautiful 
body in which to house a beautiful soul. We ad¬ 
mire the grace and skill with which the boys per¬ 
form the exercises. The games end and the play¬ 
ers sit in the rest hall. Here a story-teller ap¬ 
pears to entertain them. The notice on the screen 
tells us he is reciting the Iliad, the wonderful 
story of the Trojan war. 

As we watch these Greek scenes shifting be¬ 
fore us, we find ourselves wondering if much that 
is beautiful in the world to-day cannot be traced 
back to these people. Indeed it can. The Greeks 
were great colonizers and they founded settle¬ 
ments both to the east and west, and wherever they 
went they carried their ideas and customs, thus 


THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


19 



The Winged Victory of Samothrace 









20 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


spreading them throughout the early civilized 
world. Their whole history is a story of their 
beautiful taste and achievements in the arts. 

Our screen next 
shows us an illustration 
of the grasping power 
of Roman rule. It 
shows us how a world 
was bound under one 
government by the 
power of law. We first 
see a picture of an octo¬ 
pus—a creature of the 
sea whose many arms 
grasp and crush what¬ 
ever comes within their 
reach. The octopus 
represents Rome, the 
city of the seven hills, 
that reached out her 
arms and conquered 
all the nations of the world of that time. 

After the octopus the screen spreads before us 
the city itself at the time of its greatest power, 
about the time Jesus was horn. We see it sit¬ 
uated in Italy on seven hills overlooking the 
Tiber river. Before us flashes the Forum, the 



A Roman Soldier 























THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


21 


chief public square of the city. We notice twelve 
tablets set in different places in the Forum. The 
tablets are covered with writing in the Latin lan¬ 
guage, the tongue used by the Romans. We know 
these are the Twelve Tablets of the Roman Law 
that everyone must obey. The screen shows a 
great crowd of excited people in the Forum all 
watching an approaching parade. 

This parade is a Roman triumph. It celebrates 
a victory achieved in war by some Roman gen¬ 
eral. The parade is led by trumpeters and some 
officers of the law. Then come floats carrying cap¬ 
tured treasure—weapons, armor, jewels, furni¬ 
ture and works of art. Following the floats ap¬ 
pears the victorious general, bowing and smiling 
in his chariot. Behind him marches his army. 

In the train of the army we see the downcast 
captives of war walking in chains. Poor things! 
they are destined to become Roman slaves. Their 
home countries are now subject to Roman rule 
and will be governed by Roman laws and Roman 
officers. 

The Roman laws are strict but just and well 
planned to keep the nations in order. It was 
her laws binding everyone to obedience, and her 
great soldiery to enforce those laws, that made 
Rome mistress of the world. Many of the laws 


22 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


of our own country to-day are based on the old 
Roman laws. 

Through her many conquests Rome spread the 
civilization of Greece which she had herself ab¬ 
sorbed. It was while this nation ruled the world 
that Jesus was born in Judea, a Roman province. 
The Romans were heathens and for many years 
after the Christian religion began to spread, they 
mercilessly persecuted those who adopted the 
new faith. But the religion of Jesus persisted in 
spite of persecution, and finally it conquered the 
whole empire, even the rulers adopting it. Rome 
continued to be a nation for about five hundred 
years after the birth of Jesus. At that time hos¬ 
tile tribes from the northern part of Europe 
swept down on the Roman empire and destroyed 
it. But though Rome fell as a nation, her influ¬ 
ence did not die. The lessons she had learned 
were taught to her conquerors. These were the 
hardy Teutons of the north. 

Our first picture of the Teutons is in their for¬ 
est home. These rude people gave the world one 
of its greatest blessings. They taught it the lesson 
of free government, in which every man recog¬ 
nized as a citizen has a right to vote, thus sharing 
in the affairs of the nation. This is the basic prin¬ 
ciple of American rule to-day. 


THE MARCH OF THE AGES 


23 



An Election in Old Germany 


Let us look at the old Teutonic picture. Here 
on the screen we see a forest region and a com¬ 
pany of tall, light-haired, blue-eyed soldiers 
dressed in the skins of animals. They carry 
shields and drinking horns. 

An election of a chief for the tribe is about to 
occur. Perhaps you expect to see a voting booth 
and men with ballots. Not so. Our picture shows 
us a leader who seems to address the men on some 
subject. After a time he pauses. A sentence on 
the screen tells us the men will vote 4 ‘Yes” by 
clapping their shields and “No” by groaning. 







24 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


In the picture we see a great clapping and, 
though we do not hear the groaning, we can tell 
by the face of one man that he has voted against 
the measure. This is a regular election, quite dif¬ 
ferent from an election of to-day, but in it the 
same principle is involved—the right to vote. 
This idea these people brought with them when 
they took the Roman Empire and it has persisted 
in the lives of their descendants until to-day. 

The screen now shows a blank, and we know 
the pictures are gone, but we are satisfied. We 
have seen the March of the Ages. We understand 
the great ideas evolved in those ages, ideas that 
have become agents of civilization throughout the 
world. Let us line them up and remember how 
everything in civilized life groups itself about 
them. 

We have the alphabet, enabling us to record 
thought, from Egypt; the truth of One God from 
the Jews and Christians; a code of laws from the 
Romans; the love of beauty from the Greeks; and 
the right to vote from the Teutons. These great 
ideas had spread through the world by the 
fifteenth century and the nations that were to 
people America were in possession of them. Thus 
their further spread to the new lands was 
assured. 


CHAPTER II 

OLD-TIME IDEAS ABOUT THE EARTH 

N OW let us see what thoughts people used to 
have about the world itself. Up to the time 
of the discovery of America very little was 
known of what we call geography, and most of 
that little was incorrect. A map of to-day would 
be a great revelation to the early geographers. 
If we want to know their ideas about the world 
we must consider their maps, not ours. 

To the great mass of the people the world was 
just a flat surface. A few wise men had, through 
certain observations, come to the conclusion that 
the world must be a globe, but people generally 
laughed at such an idea. 4 1 How ridiculous! ’ ’ they 
said. 41 Could the trees at the antipodes grow with 
their roots in the earth and their heads hanging 
downwards ? Could the rain fall upwards ? 
Would the people fall off into space?” These 
arguments were supposed to prove that the earth 
was flat. 

One of the earliest thinkers who believed the 
earth to be a globe was a Greek named Ptolemy, 
who advanced this theory about 140 A. D. One 
25 


26 


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People Laughed at the Idea of the World Being Round 


of his reasons for believing this was the shape of 
the earth’s shadow as seen on the moon during 
eclipses. 

Ptolemy made a map showing his ideas of 
where the continents and oceans lay. In it he 
extended Africa as an unknown land far to the 
south and joined it to Asia, thus making the 
Indian Ocean an inland sea. A certain place in 
the north was marked Ultima Thule. This meant 
the very farthest point north where people could 
live. Beyond that point no one might dare ven¬ 
ture, for in that region of long winter night, snow 






OLD-TIME IDEAS ABOUT THE EARTH 27 

and ice, and bitter winds, all was frozen and life¬ 
less. It has been thought that the Ultima Thule 
of the ancients was either Iceland, the coast of 
Norway, or the Shetland Islands. 

In olden times geographers divided the earth 
into five zones or belts. The frigid zones, where 
no life could exist, lay about the north and south 
poles. There were two temperate zones, one north 
and one south. These were both habitable, but 
there could be no communication between them 
because they were forever separated by a “ burn¬ 
ing zone” of pure fire. In this torrid belt great 
numbers of enormous lizards, called salamanders, 
were supposed to exist. 

The lands and seas on the maps of the ancients 
were located mainly by the aid of the imagina¬ 
tion. The Atlantic Ocean, known as the Ocean of 
Tempests or the Sea of Darkness, was a great 
mystery. There was something wonderful in 
every tale or whisper that related to it. Somber 
and threatening it rolled before them, like a vast 
void into which they might be engulfed. The bold¬ 
est mariners felt a shrinking awe of it and trem¬ 
bled at the thought of venturing upon its billows. 
Those who did dare to go out hugged the coast, 
fearful of the tempestuous waves and the un¬ 
known terrors of the distant deep. 


28 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Map of the World According to Claudius Ptolemy, About A. D. 140 (Simplified) 















OLD-TIME IDEAS ABOUT THE EARTH 29 

What lay beyond that mighty sweep of waters ? 
No one knew, but the imagination conjured 
visions. Tradition peopled it with ghosts and 
hob-goblins. Mermen and mermaids were sup¬ 
posed to frolic gaily upon the frothy waves. 
The sun nightly descended into the deep and set 
the waters boiling. Far off was the edge of the 
world over which (if one ever reached it) it was 
believed one would drop into some bottomless 
abyss. 

Stories of favored lands far off in this wide 
water were often told. ’Twas whispered, too, that 
far in the west lay the Garden of Paradise where 
the earth was always green. In that favored spot 
roses and lilies bloomed in eternal beauty. No 
rain nor snow fell, no rude winds ever blew, but it 

lay, 

Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard leaves, 

And bowery hollows, crowned with summer seas. 

Some of the old fables seem to hint that the 
western world, which we call America, was not 
entirely unknown to the ancients. Such a fable is 
that of Atlantis, an island supposed to have 
existed thousands of years ago. A learned Greek 
writer named Plato who lived over two thousand 
years ago, told the story of Atlantis. He pictured 


30 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



it a great continent lying in the Atlantic beyond 
the Gates of Hercules. According to his story the 
continent was a wonderful realm, larger than 
Asia and Africa combined. It was a land of lofty 
mountains and level plains and was inhabited by 
a highly civilized people who were ruled by kings. 
The Atlanteans, energetic and enterprising, had 
built cities, erected temples, constructed ships 
and canals, and engaged in commerce and agri¬ 
culture. Fond of war and conquest, they had in¬ 
vaded and conquered Egypt and southwestern 
Europe, spreading their civilization into those 
regions. 
















OLD-TIME IDEAS ABOUT THE EARTH 31 

Prom Atlantis there were stepping-stone 
islands that led to another great continent be¬ 
yond. All went well with this wonderful country 
for many centuries, until at last there was a ter¬ 
rific earthquake and in a single day the whole 
region was swallowed up in the sea, nothing but 
the tops of certain mountains remaining above 
water. These peaks became islands and are 
known to-day as the Azores and the Canary 
Islands. 

Plato also declared that after Atlantis was sub¬ 
merged, navigation in the ocean became almost 
impossible because the sinking land made such 
enormous beds of slime. Now in the Atlantic 
Ocean where it is claimed Atlantis sank, there is 
an immense field of drifting seaweed in which 
vessels often become entangled. This is called 
the Sargasso Sea, but it is not known that it was 
caused by a sunken island, although some people 
believe there really was an Atlantis. Plato 
learned the story from earlier scholars and per¬ 
haps he heard some tales of America from wan¬ 
derers who may have glimpsed the unknown con¬ 
tinent. Perhaps it was the story of Atlantis that 
turned the thoughts of the people to the west 
and kept them wondering about it. 

However that may be, there was another legend 


32 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


told of a certain St. Brandan who lived at Kerry, 
Ireland, on the Atlantic coast. This saint heard 
stories of a wonderful land to the west and had 
a great desire to convert the people of that land. 
So he set out for it in 545 A. D. After a remark¬ 
able voyage he reached the land he sought, and re¬ 
mained in it seven long years, at the end of which 
period he returned with marvelous tales of what 
he had seen. 

Brandan located his island just beyond the 
Canaries and declared that it rivaled Paradise 
for beauty. It seemed a magic place, indeed, for 
no one else ever succeeded in finding it. When¬ 
ever anyone tried to land upon it, it never could 
he found. Many thought the island a deceiving 
mirage, or merely a fairy city of fancy. It is in¬ 
teresting to know that the great discoverer 
Columbus believed in the island of St. Brandan 
and that it was marked on his chart when he set 
out on his notable voyage. 

The stories of Atlantis and St. Brandan and 
many others of a similar nature are but legends, 
of course, and are of no historic importance. 
They are valuable, however, because they show 
how, from earliest times, the West was a magnet 
that was drawing the nations of Europe to the 
discovery of the New World. 


CHAPTER III 


THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA 

T HE name of Columbus and the discovery 
of the New World are forever linked. Yet 
Columbus was not the first European to find the 
new continent. The western magnet had drawn 
others before him. Five hundred and more years 
before Columbus started on his famous voyage, 
daring adventurers from Norway found the 
island of Iceland. 

These adventurous Northmen were sea kings. 
Their rude vessels were small ships shaped like 
a dragon or serpent, the arched head and tail be¬ 
ing often gayly colored or gilded, giving them the 
appearance of lithe serpents gliding through the 
waters. A Norse banner sometimes displayed a 
raven as an emblem. 

The rovers themselves were picturesque look¬ 
ing fellows in their chain armor and helmets dec¬ 
orated with eagle wings or walrus tusks. They 
were bold and venturesome, for they zigzagged 
their way across the frothy main and its windy 
wastes without the aid of compass or astrolabe, 
depending merely upon the sun, moon and stars 
33 


34 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



A Norse Ship 


for guidance. They had learned to read those 
heavenly hieroglyphics. 

When the first voyagers to discover Iceland 
landed on that spot, they found it to be an island 
of lava rock with ragged precipices, ice-crags that 
jutted out like huge horns, and great snow jokuls 
or hills. Here they made a settlement. 

Some little time after this one of their number, 
Eric the Red, got into trouble and was banished 
from the settlement. In his viking ship the exile 
sailed away to the westward seeking a new home. 

In due course he landed upon a gaunt, desolate 
island, covered with an immense ice cap. There 
was no sign of vegetation, save on a fringe of the 
coast where scattered mosses, lichens and dwarf 














THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA 


35 


alder trees grew. Eric had a sense of humor and 
a keen business instinct as well, so he named the 
dreary place Greenland, hoping to lure settlers 
to it. Perhaps he 
believed if a land 
had a good name 
people would want 
to live in it. 

Eric had a son, 

Leif, who visited 
the old home in 
Norway. Leif was 
an attractive man, 
being large, strong, 
of noble aspect and 
having an eagle¬ 
like countenance. 

While on his visit 
to Norway he be¬ 
came converted to 
the Christian 
faith, and deter¬ 
mined to become a 
missionary, hoping to convert his friends and 
relatives in Greenland. 

In the year 1000 A. I)., with a crew of thirty- 
five men, Leif set out in his dragon ship. Having 





36 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


no reliable guide in navigation, he steered far out 
of his course. Instead of reaching Greenland he 
drifted onto the coast of the western continent 
itself. 

He made three landings on the coast. The first 
was at Newfoundland, which he called “The 
Land of Flat Stones.” The second was at Nova 
Scotia, to which he gave the name “Woodland,” 
from its forests. The third landing was on the 
New England coast. This he named “Yinland, 
the Good,” or “Wineland,” because of the great 
abundance of wild grapes growing there. 

Leif spent the winter in Vinland, and then set 
out to return to Greenland. On the way he en¬ 
countered a ship in distress among the ice floes, 
and rescued the fifteen men on it. Because of this 
feat he was ever afterward called “Leif the 
Lucky. ’ ’ The humane and venturesome hero got 
back safely to Greenland, where he eventually be¬ 
came the chief of the settlement. 

Leif had no idea that he had discovered another 
continent. He simply thought it was a place far 
away from Greenland. The story of his adven¬ 
tures is recorded in a saga preserved in Iceland. 

It was probably a good thing that Leif did not 
understand his achievement, for Europe was not 
ready to take advantage of the discovery at that 


THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA 


37 


time. The compass and the astrolabe were still 
unknown, and without these guides it was im¬ 
possible to navigate the ocean. Moreover, 
Europe’s chief concern at that time was the wars 
that were going on within her own boundaries. 

So, though the Northmen undoubtedly were 
the first discoverers of the “ Continent of the Set¬ 
ting Sun,” their achievement proved of no last¬ 
ing benefit to the world. The honor of the dis¬ 
covery must still be accorded to the Genoese voy¬ 
ager, Christopher Columbus. 

The American poet, Henry Wadsworth Long¬ 
fellow, in his poem called “The Skeleton in 
Armor,” tells in stirring lines the story of a vi¬ 
king’s life on the Baltic shores. He sings of the 
skating on the frozen sound, of the hunting of 
the bear and the wolf, and of the adventures with 
the pirates on the stormy seas. The poet tells us 
that his poem was inspired by the finding, on 
New England soil, of a skeleton clad in broken 
armor, which was doubtless that of one of the 
Norsemen who found America before Columbus 
did. 


CHAPTER IV 

THE CALL OF CATHAY 

E ARLY European thought was chiefly con¬ 
cerned with the East. For many years a cer¬ 
tain amount of trade had been carried on with 
India. Spices and pepper had been the principal 
articles of commerce. Little, however, was known 
of the eastern lands themselves. Rumors of a 
great kingdom called Cathay, in eastern Asia, 
had reached the ears of Europe by the Middle 
Ages. In 1253 A. D. a Franciscan friar sent on 
a mission to that region returned. 

This priest reported that Cathay, or China, 
bordered on a great eastern ocean. This was an 
important piece of news. It was generally be¬ 
lieved that east of Asia there was nothing but a 
dense, dreary swamp or bog inhabited by fierce 
beasts, monsters and hob-goblins. To learn that 
instead of this there was an ocean, was news in¬ 
deed. 

Thinkers began to reason. An ocean west of 
Europe, an ocean east of Cathay—might they not 
be the same ? We shall see how this idea two hun¬ 
dred years later took root firmly in the mind of 
38 


THE CALL OF CATHAY 


39 


Columbus, and grew and flowered into his great 
voyage of discovery. 

Interest in the unknown region of Cathay 
aroused by the 
priest’s story was 
increased by the 
tales of Marco Polo, 
a native of Venice, 
the Queen of the 
Adriatic. Born of a 
noble family, well- 
educated and of a ro¬ 
mantic, venturesome 
disposition, this man 
was the greatest 
traveler of medieval 
times. His father 
and uncle had made 
a visit to the realms 
of the Great Kublai Khan, Emperor of Cathay, 
and had returned full of the wonders of that 
region. 

Fired by their stories, Marco, then a lad of 
seventeen, obtained permission to accompany 
them on a second trip to the land of wonder. In 
the year 1271 A. D. the three adventurers set out 
on their long and perilous journey. After four 







40 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


years of hardship they arrived at the City of 
Peace, a suburb of the city we call Peking, the 
capital of China. 

Marco wrote a remarkable book about his ex¬ 
periences in the east¬ 
ern lands. Some of 
the things he told were 
adorned by fancy 
and cannot be entirely 
believed, but much of 
his story is unques¬ 
tionably true. The 
points that follow are 
from his narrative. 

He tells us that he 
and his companions 
were most cordially 
received by the Khan, 
who was a fine-look¬ 
ing man wearing large earrings of pear-shaped 
pearls, a robe of beaten gold and a girdle of glis¬ 
tening precious stones of divers colors. He took 
a great fancy to young Marco, whom he made a 
sort of ambassador to other countries, entrusting 
him with many missions of importance. 

While in Cathay itself Marco lived in the 
palace of the Khan. This was a magnificent edi- 









THE CALL OF CATHAY 


41 


fice. The walls were covered with gold and silver 
and were adorned with golden figures of dragons, 
beasts, birds, knights and idols. The hall of the 
palace was so large that six thousand persons 
dined in it at the same time. The roof was 
gorgeous with blocks of yellow, green, red and 
blue stones varnished till they shone like crystal. 
Altogether the palace was so remarkable with 
splendid columns and decorations that no de¬ 
signer might ever hope to rival it. 

In his travels through the realms of the Great 
Khan, and in other countries, too, Marco saw 
many wonders. Everywhere he went he was im¬ 
pressed with the wealth and splendors of the 
cities, no less than with the luxuriant vegetation. 
In all places he found an abundance of spices, 
such as nutmegs, cinnamon, mace, cloves and pep¬ 
per. He found people trading in gold and silver, 
fine silks, and costly tissues worked with figures 
of beasts and birds. He had many adventures and 
explored deserts, traveled over flowery plains, 
crossed mighty rivers and visited huge cities. 

One of the places he described was Cipango, 
supposed to be the Island of Japan. The emperor 
of this realm had a palace almost as magnificent 
as that of Kublai Khan. It was entirely roofed, 
he declared, with fine gold; the pavement and 


42 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


the floors of the chambers were also of gold set in 
plates like slabs, each being about two fingers 
thick. 

After spending twenty-four years in the serv¬ 
ice of the Khan, Marco and his relatives returned 
to their old home. They had been gone so long 
that no one recognized them. Their stories of vast 
wealth were doubted but the Polos proved their 
claims. At a grand feast which they gave, they 
appeared in rich costumes of crimson satin and 
damask. These they cut up and divided among 
their servants. Then they brought out their old, 
shabby traveling clothes, and ripped open the 
seams and welts, disclosing an abundance of rare 
and valuable jewels — rubies, sapphires, dia¬ 
monds and emeralds. Having thus proved their 
claims they were treated with marked respect. 

For some years the Polos lived in great seren¬ 
ity in Venice, but at last a war broke out between 
that city and Genoa. In the war Marco com¬ 
manded a galley, and in a certain battle he was 
captured and taken to Genoa as a prisoner. 

To while away his time he wrote the record of 
his travels. Many persons considered him merely 
an idle story-teller, but the truth of much that he 
told has been proven. At any rate his splendid 
descriptions of the East made all Europe eager 


THE CALL OF CATHAY 


43 



The Diamond-Carrying Eagle 


to get to that land of unlimited wealth, and years 
afterward his book so fired the imagination of 
Columbus that it was a vital factor in making 
him persist in his idea of a westward route to the 
Indies. 

A story told by Marco Polo shows how very 
fanciful were the reports that came to the 
western world about the marvels of the Orient. 








44 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


A valley in the fabled regions was said to be in¬ 
accessible due to the steep sides of the hills that 
surrounded it. Its depths, moreover, were in¬ 
fested by serpents. It was believed to be “ paved 
with diamonds,’’ but the problem was how to get 
the diamonds. Merchants of the vicinity re¬ 
sorted to a stratagem. They threw raw meat 
into the valley to attract the great birds of prey 
that would fly down into the valley for the bait. 
The eagles would soar to the heights above to eat 
the meat in security, away from the serpents. 
The merchants would then chase the eagles away 
from the meat and secure the diamonds that 
were found clinging to it. 

Another book of wonderful tales about the 
Orient was written by an Englishman named Sir 
John Mandeville. This writer and traveler 
started off on his wanderings in 1322 A. D. and 
remained away thirty-four years. His stories are 
far less credible than those of Marco Polo. He, 
too, told of enormous wealth, but his natural his¬ 
tory stories are questionable. He declared that 
there were certain rivers in India which har¬ 
bored eels thirty feet long. He met people of 
every color of the rainbow. 

He learned of a marvelous lodestone mountain 
out in the Indian Ocean, which drew nails from 


THE CALL OP CATHAY 


45 


vessels and thus caused their destruction. He dis¬ 
covered rats as big as hounds, and met men of 
gigantic stature with a single eye set in the fore¬ 
head. He found a wonderful well which had the 
odor and taste of all spices and which healed all 
diseases. This well was the Fountain of Youth. 
It came out of Paradise and whoso drank of its 
waters would be forever young. 

The traveler demurely related that he himself 
drank several times from the magic well and felt 
his youth renewed. He saw men with no 
heads at all, whose eyes were located in their 
shoulders. He encountered persons without noses 
and others without lips. Indeed it would require 
a large volume to relate all the marvels he saw. 

Of course we know these tales were vain fables 
or creations of his own imagination, hut they 
aided in keeping alive interest in the wonderful 
East. Columbus read Sir John Mandeville’s 
book of travels also, and its fanciful tales deep¬ 
ened his longing for the beautiful isles where the 
spices grew. 


CHAPTER V 

MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS LEADING TO 
THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 

A BOUT five hundred years after the birth of 
Jesus, the great Roman Empire which 
ruled the civilized world fell into the hands of the 
Teutonic barbarians of the north. For six hun¬ 
dred years after this event, the European world 
was in such turmoil with the new nations getting 
themselves settled, that the sword was much more 
in use than the pen. Education was neglected. 
The lamp of learning all but flickered out and 
Europe fell into a deep sleep of ignorance. The 
only place where the spark of learning survived 
was in the monasteries where the monks, un¬ 
molested, pursued their studies. 

In the latter part of the eleventh century, the 
great Crusade movement began, which was des¬ 
tined to aid in awakening Europe from this 
trance of ignorance. The Crusades were religious 
wars between the Christians and the Moham¬ 
medan Turks. In a wild career of conquest the 
Turks had captured Jerusalem, the Holy City. 
Bigoted and ferociously cruel, the Turks began 
46 


MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


47 


to persecute the pilgrim visitors to Jerusalem. 

The story of these persecutions roused the 
Christian world to fever heat. All Europe en¬ 
listed in an army de¬ 
termined to rescue 
the sacred city. 

These wars, known 
as the Crusades, or 
wars of the Cross, the 
emblem of the Chris¬ 
tian armies, were 
carried on at inter¬ 
vals for nearly two 
hundred years, from 
1100 to 1300 A. D. 

All classes of peo¬ 
ple enlisted in the 
cause: kings, princes, 
nobles, merchants, 
priests and peasants, 
as well as mere 
tramps and adven¬ 
turers. Many exciting things happened during 
the wars, which were finally unsuccessful in their 
purpose. The Christians failed to recover Je¬ 
rusalem. However, other results came about 
which were of great benefit to the world. 



A Crusader 









48 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


One of these results was an educational interest 
in the countries through which the crusaders 
traveled. The knowledge of geography was 
greatly increased. Stories were told of the 
strange lands, and books of travel were written. 
Altogether a desire for knowledge began to run 
through the minds of the people as sap begins 
to run through the trees in spring when nature is 
awakening. 

Gradually students became interested in old 
books and stories of the ancient world, especially 
those of Greece and Rome. Schools were estab¬ 
lished for the study of these things. Poets, 
painters and sculptors flourished. The lamp of 
learning was relit. 

This time of revival is called the Renaissance 
or new birth of learning. The movement began 
in Italy but it soon spread to other countries. 
Some students traveled about, visiting different 
cities, giving lectures. Some spent their time in 
libraries, as busy with their books as bees in a 
hive with their honey. Broadened by their knowl¬ 
edge, people began to doubt things they had for¬ 
merly believed. One of these was that the earth 
was a flat surface. In some of the books it was 
told that the earth was round and many began to 
believe this. 


MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


49 


During this season of great activity of thought, 
an invention was made which did more to spread 
learning than 
any other 
agency in the 
world. This was 
the printing 
press, invented 
by John Guten¬ 
berg, of Mainz, 

Germany, in 
1438 A. D. 

With cheap 
writing mate¬ 
rials and the 
rapid printing 
of the press, the 
educational ad¬ 
vancement of the world was assured. 

The making of paper from rags at this period 
supplied Europe with cheap writing material. 
The process had been known to the Chinese for 
hundreds of years before the great invention was 
heard of in Europe. The use of paper had re¬ 
placed parchment, which was very expensive, as 
it was made from the skins of lambs. In an 
earlier era papyrus, made from a plant of the 


















50 ' 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 




Gutenberg’s First Printing Press 




















MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


51 


same name, had been the writing material in use 
in Europe. It came from Egypt, and the supply 
was cut off when that country was invaded by 
the Mohammedans in the seventh century. It 
was in the eighth century that the Saracens, or 
Arabians, entered Spain and brought with them 
the knowledge of the useful craft, which they had 
learned from the Chinese. 

Thus it came about that the making of paper 
from rags supplied the western world with cheap 
material for the printing of books and papers at 
the time of the invention of the printing press. 
The word paper is derived from papyrus. 

There have been a number of claimants to the 
honor of having invented the process of print¬ 
ing, but to John Gutenberg the invention of 
printing from movable types is ascribed. 

Before Gutenberg’s invention books were all 
either merely manuscripts or printings from 
what were known as block prints. A block print 
was a block of hard wood of whatever size the 
page of the book to be printed was to be. On this 
block the words of the page were carefully 
carved. With all the wood cut away from the 
sides of the letters they presented the raised ap¬ 
pearance shown in books printed for the blind. 
When a page was thus finished, the letters were 


52 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


inked and the paper that was to receive the im¬ 
print was placed upon them and pressed down. 

While this method was slow, it was much more 
rapid than making copies by hand. The ob¬ 
jection to the block print was the fixed type—a 
block could only print a page. 

Gutenberg sought to contrive a more rapid 
method. Obtaining in Strassburg a room in a de¬ 
serted dwelling, he set about his experiments. 
Reserved and untalkative, he kept all his opera¬ 
tions a close secret. His curious neighbors, un¬ 
able to understand his movements, concluded he 
was in league with the devil to accomplish some 
evil design. 

All undisturbed by their curiosity, Guten¬ 
berg continued his experiments, but without suc¬ 
cess. Finally, with nothing accomplished, he 
found himself without funds. In this extrem¬ 
ity he met John Fust, a wealthy goldsmith of 
Mainz, who became interested in his ideas and ad¬ 
vanced him money to pursue his experiments. 

The partnership ended unhappily, for Fust 
questioned Gutenberg’s use of the funds, and 
brought the matter to the courts, where the ver¬ 
dict gave Fust the ownership of the tools used in 
the experiments. With his tools gone, Guten¬ 
berg’s prospects looked very unpromising. But 


MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


53 


with the unfaltering courage of a man with a 
great idea, he appealed to other friends who 
finally furnished him with such tools as he 
needed. 

And now the tide of fortune turned, for the 
right inspiration came to him and he made his in¬ 
vention of movable type. The first types he made 
were of wood, but these proved unsatisfactory be¬ 
cause of the indistinct imprint they made, so he 
tried metal types. These were a complete success 
and he set about making books, the first being a 
Psalterium, which contained psalms and other 
matter for church services. The great invention 
rapidly made its way into use in all the cities of 
Europe. Many interesting books were printed. 



Early Cannon 


In 1350 A. D., about a hundred years before the 
invention of the printing press, gunpowder was 
invented. This completely altered the methods of 
warfare in the civilized world. Gunpowder had 






54 STEER FOR NEW SHORES 

been known to the Chinese for centuries, but, as 
they secluded themselves in their country and did 
not share their knowledge with others, their ideas 
were practically of no service to the world. The 

use of gunpowder 
spread throughout 
Europe, and by the 
time Columbus was 
ready for his great 
venture, it was gen- 
e r a 11 y understood. 
The new explosive, 
carried over to the 
new lands, would in¬ 
sure a rapid conquest 
of the uncivilized 
Indians. 

Another useful in¬ 
vention of medieval 
times was the marin¬ 
er ’s compass. This instrument also had been 
known to the Chinese for many years, but its use 
in Europe began about 1250 A. D. The compass 
is an instrument for showing directions on the 
earth’s surface by means of a magnetized needle 
or strip of steel. This needle is balanced on a 
pivot and turns easily. It always points in a 



The points were designated after 
the (Italian) names of the winds , 
as Levante, east; Sirocco, south¬ 
east, and so on 







MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


55 


northerly direction and is thus an unerring guide 
in trackless wastes. 

The invention of the compass made the naviga¬ 
tion of the Atlantic, and thus the voyage of Co¬ 
lumbus to the western continent, a possibility. 
James Montgomery, the poet, wrote these lines 
about the compass-magnet: 

A surer star to guide the seaman’s eye 
Than the pale glory of the northern sky, 

Alike ordained to shine by night and day, 

Through calm and tempest, with unsetting ray; 
Where’er the mountains rise, the billows roll, 

Still with strong impulse turning to the pole, 

True as the sun is to the morning true, 

Though light as film and trembling as the dew. 

We must agree that the poet’s lines quite accu¬ 
rately describe the qualities and virtues of this 
marvelous instrument. 

In the days of Alexander the Great communi¬ 
cation was established between Europe and the 
East. The people of Europe found that the East 
furnished many things such as silks, spices, jew¬ 
els, drugs, perfumes and other luxuries that were 
not to be had in their own lands. The desire to 
possess these things led to a trade between the 
two regions. In return for the eastern luxuries, 
Europe sent back grain, honey, wool, cloth, 
leather and other western productions. 


56 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Part of a Caravan 


The trade thus established increased with the 
passage of time until by the fifteenth century it 
was extensive and important. It meant vast 
wealth to those fortunate enough to secure it. A 
sharp contest for the control of this trade arose 
among the cities of southern Europe, but most of 
it fell under the control of Genoa and Venice, 
both seaports of Italy. 

The trade was carried on partly by caravan, 
and partly by shipping, over certain established 
routes. Travel was very different in those days 
from what it is now. The journeys were long 
and beset with many dangers. 

One of the routes led from India overland to 
the Caspian Sea. At this point the merchandise 
was transferred from the camels of the caravan 
to vessels which transported it to the western 






MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


57 


shores of the Caspian. Here it was again loaded 
on camels and carried to the Black Sea, where it 
was placed upon vessels and shipped to Con¬ 
stantinople and thence through the H£gean and 
Mediterranean Seas to Genoa. This was the 
northern route and was controlled by the mer¬ 
chants of Genoa. 

The southern route from India led by ship 
across the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea, and from 
its shores by caravan to Alexandria. From this 
point it led again by ship across the Mediterra¬ 
nean to Venice, whose merchants held most of 
the southern trade. 

There was always more or less danger from 
brigands on the caravan routes, and pirates on 
the high seas, but in spite of this the merchants 
ventured on their journeyings. However, in 1453 
A. D., an event occurred which completely ruined 
the eastern trade along the established routes. In 
that year an army of turbaned Turks reached 
their scimitars to Constantinople, and, under the 
command of Mohammed II, captured the city. 

This proved a misfortune for the trade of 
Genoa and Venice, for the Turks, cruel, ignorant, 
and blindly devoted to their faith, proceeded to 
make travel a dangerous venture both on land 
and sea for all Christians. They forbade the use 


58 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


of the northern land routes to the traders and, as 
the Mediterranean was dotted with their pirate 
galleys, the merchant vessels were no longer safe. 

The commercial 
interests of Italy 
were at a standstill— 
in fact the eastern 
trade was practically 
ruined. The conun¬ 
drum of the age was 
now how to reach In¬ 
dia by another route. 
Europe faced about 
and front ed the 
West, seeking that 
route. 

The first effort in 
this line was made by 
Prince Henry of 
Portugal, a very 
progressive man, whose motto was, “ Desire to do 
well.” The prince was so much interested in 
maritime affairs that he was called “the Navi¬ 
gator.” Sailors looked upon him as their best 
friend. Persuaded that an all-sea route to India 
could be found by circumnavigating Africa, he 
fitted out expeditions for that purpose. 






MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


59 


On a lonely promontory in southern Portugal, 
Henry established an observatory for the study 
of the heavenly bodies. A knowledge of the con¬ 
stellations was necessary for a sailor in those 
days. In his observatory Henry pored over old 
charts and made new ones. 

He meditated on the problems of navigation 
and fitted out vessels to venture strange waters. 
He had many prejudices to overcome in ignorant 
sailors, many of whom at first refused to use the 
compass, declaring it was bewitched and would 
bring them misfortune. 

They also trembled at the thought of ventur¬ 
ing past a certain cape known as Cape Nun or 
Cape Nothing, for ’twas whispered that beyond it 
lay nothing but terrors. And then, even if they 
got past Cape Nun, was not the Burning Zone 
below? Across that fiery frontier all hesitated 
to venture. 

However, in spite of their fears, the captains, 
instructed by Henry, sailed southward little by 
little. Finally they passed Cape Nothing and 
entered the Burning Zone itself. Finding they 
were neither boiled alive nor melted, and meeting 
none of the terrors of tradition, they kept on; but 
the length and irregularity of the African coast 
discouraged them and they turned north again. 


60 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Prince Henry did not live to see the extent of 
Africa proved, but that feat was accomplished 
some years later by a sailor named Bartholomew 
Diaz. In 1487, after a seemingly endless voyage 
southward, Diaz reached the southern extremity 
of the continent. At this point the heavy cur¬ 
rent in the sea made it almost impossible to pro¬ 
ceed, and, to add to the difficulty, terrific storms 
broke loose. The mountainous waves at one mo¬ 
ment tossed the frail craft (it seemed) to the very 
skies, and at the next dashed it to the bed of the 
ocean. Cold, piercing winds roared so boister¬ 
ously that not a word could be heard. Diaz 
named the place the “Cape of Storms.” 

He finally rounded the cape and discovered 
that the Indian Ocean was not an inland sea, and 
that Africa was a separate continent and not 
merely a part of Asia. He was sure that by con¬ 
tinuing his voyage northward he would reach 
India; but his men, tired of the long trip, refused 
to proceed and he was compelled to turn back. 

When he arrived in Portugal he was received 
with wild enthusiasm, and the king, John II, to 
whom he reported his adventures, rejoiced that 
the all-sea route to India was now assured, 
crossed out the name “Cape of Storms,” on the 
seaman’s chart, and wrote instead, “Cape of 


MEDIEVAL CONDITIONS 


61 


Good Hope. ’ ’ Among the men with Diaz on his 
famous voyage, was a brother of Christopher Co¬ 
lumbus, the man who was to make the westward 
venture while seeking the Indies. 

Although the Portuguese, through the voyage 
of Diaz, had proved the extent of Africa and had 
shown the possibility of reaching the Indies by 
sailing around the continent, no further effort 
was made by that nation at this time. However, 
in the year 1497 Vasco da Gama made a success¬ 
ful venture, sailing around the Cape of Good 
Hope into the Indian Ocean to the long sought 
Indies. This was some years after the famous 
voyage of Columbus seeking the same goal. 


CHAPTER VI 

HOW COLUMBUS BECAME* A WORLD 
FINDER 


A ROMAN author named Seneca once made a 
strange prophecy which was later fulfilled 
in the discovery of America. He wrote these 
lines: 

In the dim future yet shall come an age 
When Ocean shall unloose us from his bonds, 

When the sea, yielding, shall disclose new worlds, 

And Thule be no more the last of lands. 

When we remember how the sea, centuries 
after this was written, did yield its secrets to Co¬ 
lumbus, and disclosed the “Continent of the Set¬ 
ting Sun, ’ ’ we cannot hut he impressed with these 
lines, which seem like a vision. 

Five years after Diaz made his venture around 
Africa, seeking the all-sea route to the Indies, 
Christopher Columbus set out on his westward 
voyage. He was the most famous mariner of all 
time. Although he became the most distin¬ 
guished man of his day, Columbus was of humble 
parentage, his father being a wool-comber of 
Genoa, in which city Christopher was born. 

62 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 63 



As a Lad Columbus Talked with Sailors 


Genoa was a center of trade and many ships 
anchored at her wharves. Columbus, a blue-eyed, 
red-haired, fair-skinned lad, loved the sea and 
often talked with the sailors of the strange lands 
they had seen. Deciding to become a sailor, too, 
he studied geography, astronomy, map-drawing 
and navigation, as these branches would be of 
most service to him in the life of his fancy. 

If we may believe a certain tale, even his child¬ 
ish dreams foretold him as a discoverer. It is 










STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


said that while he was yet a little lad he had a 
dream or vision of the West. In his sleep there 
appeared to him a white-winged angel holding a 
cross of gold from which a shining path stretched 
far into the dim distance. The angel told him the 
path led to far-away western lands which he 
would sometime see. Columbus never forgot his 
dream and in his manhood it came true. 

The wander-lust of a horn rover possessed him 
and he began his sea-faring life at fourteen. He 
had many exciting adventures, and in the course 
of his travels visited almost every coast of the 
then known world. When he was thirty-five 
years of age, he was located at Lisbon for a time. 
Being religiously inclined, he daily attended 
services in a certain chapel. 

One day while at the church he saw a fair lady 
of high social position, the daughter of a noted 
navigator. Attracted by her beauty he sought 
her acquaintance. Columbus at this time was a 
distinguished-looking man, tall, strong, of sol¬ 
dierly bearing, with a noble countenance, beauti¬ 
ful gray eyes, and waving hair almost white. He 
had, moreover, a winning manner and was as 
courteous as a knight of chivalry. His acquaint¬ 
ance with the fair lady ripened into love and 
marriage. 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 65 



Columbus Dreamed of Enchanted Lands 


With his wife Columbus made his home on the 
small island of Porto Santo, where he earned his 
living making maps, at which work he was an ex¬ 
pert. His residence on the island marked an im¬ 
portant epoch in his life. His wife had in her 
possession certain books and charts dealing with 
navigation and the shape of the earth. 

Among the maps was one by Ptolemy, who 
believed that the earth was a globe. Among the 
books were those of Marco Polo and Sir John 
Mandeville, telling of the wonders of India and 
Cathay. 








66 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Columbus pored over these maps and books 
eagerly. Sometimes the reading of a book may 
change a life—in the case of Columbus it changed 
the destiny of a world. Fascinated by the tales of 
Polo and Mandeville, Columbus longed to find 
the favored isles of the far East. He watched the 
ocean and dreamed his dreams of the enchanted 
lands. Splendid visions thronged his fancies. 
But though a dreamer, he was a doer as well— 
one who made his dreams come true. 

The old routes to the East were by this time cut 
off because of Turkish cruelties. The route 
around Africa, even if proved possible, promised 
to be too lengthy. Pondering the problem, Co¬ 
lumbus conceived the idea of trying a westward 
route. If Ptolemy’s views were correct and the 
earth was a globe, India could be reached by sail¬ 
ing directly west. Wishing to consult an author¬ 
ity, he wrote to the renowned astronomer, Tos- 
canelli, of Florence, Italy, asking advice and in¬ 
formation. 

The famous scientist, an old man of nearly 
eighty, sent a lengthy letter in reply, stating his 
belief that the world was a globe and giving his 
ideas about the location of its lands and seas, and 
dwelling, too, upon the certainty of reaching Ca¬ 
thay by the westward route. The astronomer also 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 67 

enclosed a map showing his idea of the Atlantic 
Ocean and the islands in it. It is interesting to 
note that he gave 
the mythical St. 

Brandan Island 
a place on it. 

On this map, 
which Columbus 
carried with him 
when he finally 
made his jour¬ 
ney, the coasts of 
Asia and Europe 
were quite close 
t o g e t h e r—n o 
America as a 
mighty barrier 
loomed between. 

Delighted at this 
confirmation of his own views, Columbus de¬ 
termined to seek a patron for his project of sail¬ 
ing westward to the Spice Islands. He was poor 
and the execution of his scheme would require 
money and influence. The proper patron would 
be a king, so he sought royalty. 

The chief aim of Columbus was of course to 
find a short all-sea route to the Indies, but he was 



Columbus, the Man 






68 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



The Toscanelli Chart (simplified), sent to Portugal in 1474 














































COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 69 

moved by another motive also. This was the 
salvation of souls. Those lands were inhabited 
by heathens and he believed himself a chosen in¬ 
strument of God to carry the Christian faith to 
the oriental pagans. 

Columbus made two radical but fortunate mis¬ 
takes in his calculations. First, he figured the 
earth to be much smaller than it really is, and he 
believed the coast of Asia extended much farther 
eastwaid than is the case. He thought, too, that 
he would only have to sail down to the Canaries, 
and from there directly westward, to reach Ja¬ 
pan, estimating the distance to that country as 
less than three thousand miles. 

This mistake was indeed a lucky one, for we 
must remember that Columbus was not seeking a 
new continent, he was merely looking for a new 
and shorter route to the East. Had he dreamed 
the real distance was twelve thousand miles, he 
would probably never have ventured on his great 
voyage. Convinced of the truth of his claims and 
unwitting that he had a world to offer, he set 
about seeking help in his schemes. 

As Portugal had made the greatest advance in 
navigating the unknown seas, that country 
seemed the proper place for his appeal. So to 
Portugal he went to lay his great scheme before 


70 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


the king, John II, and a Council of wise men. 
Here he met the first of a long series of disap¬ 
pointments that he was destined to endure for 
many years. 

To the wise Council the plan seemed the wild 
vision of a half-crazed dreamer. The king, how¬ 
ever, lured by the thought of the vast wealth of 
the Indies, was inclined to favor an experiment. 
At this point one of the noble bishops craftily 
suggested the pilfering of the dreamer’s ideas, 
and, unknown to him, fitting out an expedition to 
try out the plan, under another leader. The king 
consented to the base proposition, and a caravel 
was fitted out and sent to venture the western 
waters. 

The shameful scheme failed, however, as it 
deserved to do; the thief was not permitted to 
steal from Columbus the glory of his achieve¬ 
ment. Encountering a terrific tempest, the fright¬ 
ened seamen who manned the craft turned about 
and made for home, declaring there was no land 
in the west and only destruction awaited those 
foolhardy enough to make the venture. Colum¬ 
bus, learning of the deception, left Portugal 
burning with indignation. 

His own home, Genoa, next loomed in his vi¬ 
sion. Poor Columbus! He might have known 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 71 

that a prophet receives less honor in his own 
country than in any other. Genoa only jeered 
and hooted scornfully. 

6 ‘ Find the Indies by sailing west! Crazy fool! ’ ’ 
Even the street urchins tapped their foreheads 
mockingly when he crossed their path. 

Discouraged, but not disheartened, Columbus, 
knowing that no man can fail until he loses faith 
in himself and his purposes, refused to accept 
defeat and turned his steps to Spain, intending 
to ask the royalty of that land to aid his mis¬ 
sion. It certainly was not a favorable season for 
asking help in that quarter, for Spain was in the 
throes of a great war against the Mohammedan 
Moors, who had been entrenched in the land for 
several centuries. It was the fixed aim of the 
Spanish sovereigns to expel these heathens from 
the country. 

Columbus arrived at Palos and from there 
made his way to Cordova, where the Court was 
convened in a splendid military camp. The 
gathering was a gorgeous spectacle. The chiv¬ 
alry of Spain was assembled and the gleaming 
armor, flaming banners and martial music all 
contributed to produce an imposing scene. Co¬ 
lumbus, shabby and threadbare, fitted poorly into 
the picture. Owing to their great anxiety over 


72 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


the affairs of the war, Columbus failed to meet 
the sovereigns at Cordova, but he became ac¬ 
quainted with many of the most learned and dis¬ 
tinguished men of the time, to whom he explained 
his ideas and among whom he made new friends. 

The Court moved to Salamanca and he fol¬ 
lowed. It was a case of genius begging the. right 
to be heard. At Salamanca, after much delay, he 
was presented to the king and queen. He made 
the most of his opportunity and with all the elo¬ 
quence of a born orator presented his own cause. 
The king was impressed with the idea but would 
not decide to bestow his aid without the approval 
of certain scholars and priests whom he sum¬ 
moned to a conference, at which Columbus again 
explained his plans. 

The Council numbered among its members 
proud university professors and a solemn group 
of priests, high officials of the Church. Co¬ 
lumbus was sure he would convince them, but his 
task was harder than he anticipated, for they 
were very bigoted and ridiculed his ideas. They 
had been educated to believe that the earth was 
flat and this idea was so deeply fixed in their 
minds that to uproot it would be almost as dif¬ 
ficult as to tear a tree from its earth-bound hold. 
They smiled and winked and scowled by turns. 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 73 



Columbus at the Court of Spain 


They advanced all the old arguments against the 
rotundity of the earth. 

“Can people at the antipodes walk with heels 
up and heads down?” “Can the rain and hail 
and snow fall upward ? ” “ And even if the earth 















74 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


were a globe and a ship sailed round it, how could 
it get back ? Could it sail up hill ? ’ 9 

They quoted the Bible against the idea. 

“Is it not said, all men are descendants of 
Adam? How could people have wandered so far 
apart?” “Is it not said, too, that the heavens 
were a tent spread over the earth? How could 
this be so unless the earth were a flat surface for 
the tent to rest upon? Did not Columbus believe 
the Bible?” 

So they rejected him and his theory. 

Many men would have been crushed under this 
bitter disappointment. Not so Columbus. He had 
become a man of a fixed idea—absolutely certain 
of its truth. Nothing could shake his confidence 
in himself, for he felt that God had called him to 
a high mission. 

Though the Council had rejected him, it had 
at least given publicity to his scheme, which be¬ 
came the talk of Spain. The name of Columbus 
was in every mouth. Groups of men discussed 
his plans even on the streets. While most people 
thought his scheme but a wild and foolish dream, 
a number of intelligent thinkers thought it might 
possibly be carried out. 

This was in 1487, and for three more weary 
years Columbus doggedly followed the Spanish 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 75 



The Convent of La Rabida 


court from camp to camp, vainly endeavoring to 
get another hearing for his enterprise. He held 
on with a bulldog grip. Finally, at the opening 
of the siege of Granada, the last stronghold of 
the Moors, Columbus, sick at heart, bereft of 
everything but his own courage, despaired of 
persuading Spain to accept his wonderful offer. 
He determined to leave the heedless country and 
try his fortune in France. 

Before beginning his long j ourney to France, he 
stopped at the Franciscan convent of La Rabida, 
near the city of Palos, and here his luck turned. 
He had with him his son Diego. The lad being 
thirsty, Columbus requested water for him at the 
convent. The good friars invited him in. Colum¬ 
bus accepted the invitation and used his oppor¬ 
tunity to tell his story. 







76 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


One of the fathers, much impressed, and 
anxious to save such a glory to Spain, invited 
several learned friends to meet the hero. Among 
them was a wealthy sailor named Alonzo Pinzon, 
who became interested in the plan and promised 
his aid. Full of zeal for the cause he had adopted, 
the prior, who had formerly been confessor to the 
queen, set off to request her aid in the cause. He 
was received with favor by Queen Isabella, and 
so fully persuaded her to the enterprise that she 
sent for Columbus to return to the Court. 

Picture the joy of Columbus! As tirelessly as 
a mole burrows out his tunnel in the ground he 
had kept up his efforts to gain his goal. Now it 
seemed, this goal was about to be achieved. He 
hastened to Granada, at the favorable time of 
Spain’s most fortunate hour. The surrender of 
Granada had just taken place and Columbus had 
the pleasure of seeing the Moorish flag torn from 
the Alhambra, the great Red Palace of the Moors, 
and the Spanish emblem floated in its stead. 

Summoned to the presence of victorious roy¬ 
alty, Columbus, not a king, but royal in another 
sense, took the attitude, not of a humble sup¬ 
pliant, but of an equal, a heaven-sent messenger 
of God with a great gift to bestow that would 
add to the glory of the state. 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 77 



The Three Ships or Columbus 


A halt in the discussion occurred, however, 
when he made known the terms of his offer. 
There was nothing humble in his demands. He 
expressly stated that he must be made Admiral 
of the Seas, and Viceroy of the new realms, and 
receive one-tenth of all profits resulting from 
his discoveries. These demands, which seemed 
excessive, were at first rejected. But the sover- 




















78 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


eigns finally consented, the queen pledging her 
own jewels to obtain the funds necessary for fit¬ 
ting out the expedition. 

Three small caravels were provided, the Santa 
Maria, the Pinta, and the Nina. The next dif¬ 
ficulty encountered was in getting crews. The 
scheme being generally regarded as foolhardy 
and dangerous, few were willing to serve in the 
venture. The hundred and twenty men finally 
mustered to the cause were chiefly jailbirds and 
criminals who were promised full pardon for 
their misdoings in return for their services as 
sailors. 

At last all was ready and on August 3, 1492, 
the pilgrims set out on their voyage of discovery. 
Before boarding the vessels the crew, watched 
with awe-stricken eyes by immense crowds, filed 
into the little church at Palos, where a solemn 
service was held. Anthems were sung and 
prayers were offered. Prom the church to the 
vessels the sailors filed. There was no cheering 
nor hand-clapping; instead the people were weep¬ 
ing and lamenting, for they were persuaded the 
farewell was forever. 

It was an impressive scene in the world’s history 
when, just as the rising sun cast his golden gleams 
on the morning sky, the flimsy caravels spread 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 79 


their sails and, like white-winged birds, skimmed 
out to sea. Columbus planned to sail first to the 
Canaries, and from there directly west, believing 
he would reach the northern end of Japan. The 
men were full of misgivings and when the moun¬ 
tains of Spain at last faded from view and they 
saw 


Before them not the ghost of shores, 

Before them only shoreless seas, 

they broke down and wept like children, whisper¬ 
ing to each other alarming stories of dangers and 
dragons and delusions and enchantments. Co¬ 
lumbus strove to calm them and pictured the 
splendors awaiting them in Cathay, where pearls 
were more plentiful than pebbles. 

Each man carried with him his own special 
treasures. Those of Columbus were his maps, his 
books and a letter to the Grand Khan from the 
sovereigns. 

In the course of a week one of the vessels, the 
Pinta, commanded by Alonzo Pinzon, became 
disabled. The repairs necessary detained them 
for a few weeks at the Canaries, where they ar¬ 
rived August 12. 

When all was in order they set out again on 
September 6, this time for the real voyage across 


80 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


the unknown sea where never sail was spread be¬ 
fore. Past the Canary Islands they plowed their 
way, the first ships that ever set sail in that lati¬ 
tude across the waste of waters that lay beyond. 
The farther they sailed the more full of terror 
the men became. Everything that we now know 
to be perfectly natural appeared to their igno¬ 
rant minds as something to be feared. Every 
trifle was magnified into an omen of misfortune. 
A mast, a fragment of some wreck floated by. 
It presaged disaster, they were sure. A meteor, 
“far splendoring the sleepy realms of night,’’ 
trailed its fiery path across the heavens and 
dropped into the ocean a few miles from the ship 
—a plain warning from heaven, they vowed, not 
to pursue their foolish venture. The sailors were 
for turning back, but Columbus only sternly 
pointed to the West, the goal of his dreams, and 
commanded, “Sail on!” 

Then the increasing distance from the Euro¬ 
pean shores alarmed them. The ocean was end¬ 
less—they would never return. 

They sailed and sailed as winds might blow, 

Until, at last, the blanched mate said, 

“Why now, not even God would know, 

Should I and all my men fall dead.’ ’ 

To quiet their fears on this point, the resource- 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 81 


ful Columbus adopted the plan of keeping two 
records of their progress, a true one for him¬ 
self and another for their benefit, in which he 
made false entries, marking the distance from 
Spain materially less than it really was. He 
tried to console them with religious services, and 
every night had sung on the vessels “The Vesper 
Hymn.” He managed to divert their attention 
with stories of the wonderful treasure they were 
about to find. He pictured the golden-roofed 
palace of Kublai Khan, and the splendors of the 
Spice Islands. 

That those misty seas held a new continent he 
never dreamed. He had Toscanelli’s map with 
him and pored over it daily. At night he kept his 
eyes steadily on the pilot stars, by which, in con¬ 
nection with the compass, he guided his course. 
On September 14 the needle, which had always 
pointed a little east of the polestar, swayed to the 
west. The sailors discovered the change. Magic 
was at work, they were sure! The compass was 
bewitched. They would land in the infernal re¬ 
gions if they landed at all! 

“Let us go back!” they entreated. Columbus, 
as calm as a statue of Apollo, pointed to the West. 
“The needle is true,” he declared, “it is the Star 
that moves. Sail on! ” 


82 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


This explanation was not the true one, which 
Columbus did not know, but it served to quiet the 
men. The truth was that the needle pointed, not 
to the polestar, but to some fixed and invisible 
point. Why it does this no one knows—it is a 
mystery of nature that has not yet been solved. 

Soon a new terror struck the adventurers, for 
they rode into the belt of the trade winds, which, 
blowing steadily from the East, made them cer¬ 
tain they would never return. They were bound 
for the ends of the earth! In spite of their anxie¬ 
ties, however, they could not help being charmed 
by the beauty of the scene and the glorious 
weather, which was as tranquil and mild as April 
in Spain. Columbus himself wrote in his notes 
that he could imagine he heard the nightingales 
singing their lays. 

The next alarm occurred when they reached 
what seemed to be an immense field of tangled 
sea grasses, full of tunny fish and crabs. This 
was the famous Sargasso Sea, or Ocean of Sea 
Grapes. At this point the sea is over two thou¬ 
sand fathoms deep, but is so overspread with 
grasses that it presents the deceiving appearance 
of a solid meadow. In these vast tangles the 
three small caravels of the fleet moved so 
slowly that the men were certain that they had at 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 83 

last reached the impassable sea which Ptolemy 
pictured east of Asia, and in which they feared 
they would be imprisoned forever. They added 
to their own fears by talks of hidden rocks and 
treacherous quicksands below. Columbus, how¬ 
ever, sounded the water and proved to them its 
depth. 

They finally made their way to the clear sea 
and once more were on the road to Cathay, as 
they vainly fancied. How eagerly they watched 
for land! Ever on the alert for a sign, they were 
often deceived and bitterly disappointed. Co¬ 
lumbus labored to reassure them. 

At one time a sailor on the watch was certain 
he saw a coast ahead. “Land! Land! Land!” 
he called frantically. Every eye gazed where he 
pointed. Eager for a better view, many scram¬ 
bled up the masthead and climbed the rigging. 
They saw the vision—yes, it was—it surely was 
land—mountains, hills, and valleys! Overcome 
with joy they sank on their knees sobbing hymns 
of praise. 

Alas! the morning shattered their hopes, for 
the seeming land proved to be but a deceiving 
rack of clouds. After this flights of strange birds 
buoyed up their hopes that land was near. But 
no shores appeared, nothing greeted their gaze 


84 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


but the endless waste of water about them and 
the endless blue of the sky above. The sailors 
grew desperate; they begged Columbus to go 
back. The admiral, iron-willed as a Spartan, 
only pointed to the West. ‘ 4 Sail on! Sail on! On 
to the West and the regions of gold!” To sail 
on had become his religion. 

Then came mutiny. The men, huddled together 
in a threatening crowd, planned in stealthy whis¬ 
pers to push him overboard. They could say he 
missed his footing while star-gazing. But they 
dared not lay hands on him and still the ships 
plunged to the westward. 

It was fortunate that the end of the journey 
was at hand. The month was October when in¬ 
fallible signs of land began to appear. Clumsy 
dolphins played about the ship, and they saw 
long-billed pelicans, long-legged herons and wild 
ducks. Fresh weeds floated from the west, a tree- 
branch with berries on it—a staff, evidently 
carved by a human hand. Land must be near, or 
else an evil spirit was at work, thought the men. 

Night fell—an exquisite night with a placid sea, 
and a heaven strewn with spangling stars. A soft 
breeze sang in their ears—what was it saying ? 

“New Land! New Land!” 

Eight o’clock, nine, ten! A suppressed excite- 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 85 



First Land Seen by Columbus 


ment possessed everyone. Something was surely 
going to happen. 

Suddenly, Columbus, his eyes strained on the 
West, saw a light! 

All pale and worn he kept his deck, 

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 
Of all dark nights! And then—a speck— 

A Light! A Light! A Light! A Light! 

The light wavered, flickered, disappeared. Oh, 
the uncertainty! Was it a will-o-the-wisp—a 
ghost light—a vision of an overstrained fancy? 
No! there it was again! 










86 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


The admiral called others who saw it, too. 
Then he ordered a close watch for land, offering 
a fine scarlet coat as a prize for the one who 
should first sight it. 

Eager for the prize, the men watched for the 
shore with falcon eyes. Twelve—no land! One 
—two—hark! The dull boom of a cannon from 
the Pinta. ’Twas the signal! Land! Land ho! 
Land ho! 

We can picture the excitement of the rest of 
that night. Not an eye was closed, and when the 
first rays of the red dawn arose, they saw their 
goal! 

Hurrah! Take in the sails! The star of Amer¬ 
ica arises in the smiling heavens! Fortunate day! 

It was Friday, October 12,1492, just ten weeks 
since they left Palos, that a New World was 
found! The boyhood dream of Columbus had 
come true. 

With what joy the weary seamen landed on 
the new shores! Columbus took possession with 
fitting pomp and ceremony. Clad in a fine scarlet 
robe, wearing a gold-embroidered cap with a long 
plume, he went ashore carrying the standard of 
Spain. 

Such a land as greeted them! It seemed a ver¬ 
itable Paradise—green trees of immense height, 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 87 


verdant all the year; gorgeous flowers, fair fruits, 
gay parrots chattering in the trees; song birds 
pouring forth an anthem of welcome and the blue 
ocean girdling the shores. 

And people! The sailors had never seen their 
like. Stark naked, well formed, graceful, of a 
dark cinnamon color streaked with paints of 
bright hues, with hair as coarse as that of a 
horse’s mane. Timid, shy, full of wonder at the 
strange guests whom they mistook for gods come 
from celestial regions in winged boats. 

In the presence of these people, Columbus 
planted the Spanish flag, claiming the whole 
country in the name of the sovereigns of Spain. 
Then he and his companions knelt and kissed the 
earth, singing with tears of joy, “Te Deum 
Laudamus,” [We Praise Thee, O God] while the 
Spanish emblem flapped gloriously in the tropica] 
breeze over the new (unwitting) subjects of 
Spain. 

Columbus, believing he had found the Indies, 
called the people Indians. The island he landed 
upon he named San Salvador. It is believed to be 
the island called Watling. The names given to 
new places by early European discoverers show 
how deeply religion influenced the minds of the 
people of that period. 


88 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


The Spaniards found the natives kindly crea¬ 
tures, easily pleased with trifling gifts of colored 
beads, tinkling bells and gay caps. Columbus 
himself paid them this tribute: “There are no 
better people on earth—they are gentle, neither 
killing nor stealing. I examined them closely to 
see if there was any gold, noticing that some of 
them wore small pieces of the metal in their 
noses, and by signs I was able to understand that 
by going around the island to the southward I 
would find a king who had large golden vessels 
and also gold dust in abundance.” 

As gold was the chief object of the Spanish ex¬ 
pedition, Columbus was much disappointed at the 
poverty of the people on the island, but he had 
hopes that in other places he would find the 
Grand Khan and the splendors of Cathay. He 
also wished to deliver to the Khan a letter which 
was sent by the Sovereigns of Spain. This is the 
text of the letter: 

The Spanish Sovereigns have heard that you and 
your subjects have great affection for them and for 
Spain. They are further aware that you and your 
subjects are desirous of information respecting Spain. 
They therefore cordially send their Grand Admiral, 
Christopher Columbus, who will tell you that they are 
in good health and perfect prosperity. 

I, the King, 

I, the Queen. 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 89 


How little Columbus dreamed that a continent 
and another mighty ocean still lay between him 
and the Asian ruler he sought! He lost no time in 
coasting about among the islands seeking Cip- 
ango, which, of course, he never found, though he 
did discover Cuba, which he describes in enthusi¬ 
astic terms, the bright parrots and sweet-voiced 
mocking birds especially charming him. But 
here as elsewhere he found no people but naked 
Indians. There was no Grand Khan, no gold- 
roofed city, no spices of Cathay. This was a great 
disappointment to Columbus. He cruised among 
other islands with the same results. 

New annoyances came to him. Alonzo Pinzon, 
commander of the Pinta, turned deserter and 
sailed away for home, intending to arrive first 
and claim the credit of the discovery. On the 
coast of one of the islands, the Santa Maria, 
on which Columbus sailed, was wrecked. This 
left but one flimsy craft, the Nina. 

Deciding to return home, he organized a 
colony of such men as wished to remain in the 
new land. Then, to imbue the Indians with a 
wholesome respect for the colonists, Columbus 
ordered an exhibition of military skill. The men 
performed various feats with their swords, 
bucklers and lances. The Indians were interested 


90 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


and awed spectators, but when a cannon was dis¬ 
charged and they saw what it could do, they 
trembled visibly in the presence of the white men, 
who, they were sure, were gods of tremendous 
power. 

This colony was located in Haiti, which 
Columbus called Espanola. Feeling easy con¬ 
cerning its welfare, he set out for home, taking 
with him several Indians, and many specimens 
of the various productions, animal, vegetable and 
mineral, found in the new lands. 

He had a stormy voyage homeward. In one 
gale the sails were destroyed and the frail craft 
was tossed about like a plaything of the boister¬ 
ous sea. Fearing that if the vessel should be de¬ 
stroyed and the crew lost, the news of his great 
discovery would never reach Europe, Columbus 
wrote an account of his adventures, and placed 
the paper in a cake of wax which he enclosed in a 
cask. The cask was thrown into the sea in the 
hope that it would drift to European shores and 
be opened. The measure, however, was unneces¬ 
sary, for the ship weathered the storm and finally 
got back to the port of Palos. 

Upon learning of his arrival, the sovereigns 
summoned Columbus to the court at Barcelona. 
He arrived there in April. The homeward voyage 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 91 

had taken three months. Everyone was surprised 
that the wanderers had returned. Many had for¬ 
gotten them. The news of their return spread like 
wild fire and great excitement prevailed. Every¬ 
one was eager to see the hero and learn w T hat he 
had to tell. 

A fine parade was planned and all were anxious 
to do honor to Columbus. He was the Man of the 
Hour! No one tapped the forehead now—no one 
shouted, “Mad Sailor!” 

Bonfires were lighted, bells were rung and can¬ 
non fired in salute. Streets and balconies were 
filled with wildly excited crowds, banners waved 
from the towers and blasts of trumpets resounded 
to the sky. A joyous peal rent the air as the 
parade started, led by a group of nobles and 
grandees of Spain, followed by a company of 
cavaliers with glittering helmets and waving 
plumes. 

Of course Columbus himself was the central 
figure of all this festivity. The pride of achieve¬ 
ment glowed in his bosom as he rode along, while 
behind him (pathetic figures, emblems of a ruined 
race) 

Crowned Indians marched with lowly faces, 

And wondered at the new world that they saw! 

Gay parrots shouted from their gold-bound arms, 
And from their crests swept airy plumes. 


92 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Following the Indians were floats upon which 
were displayed various trophies of gold, spices, 
plants and ornaments from over the seas. The 
sun shone in full splendor on the gay scene, and 
here the Old World and the New World met. 

When Columbus came into the presence of the 
Court, he was treated with great honor. He was 
even permitted to seat himself in the presence of 
royalty. And then he told his tale. He spoke of 
all the incidents of the voyage— 

The untried deep, the green Sargasso Sea, 

The varying compass, the affrighted crews, 

The hymn they sang on every doubtful eve— 

The land birds singing, and the drifting weeds, 

How broke the morn on fair San Salvador, 

How the Te Deum on that isle was sung, 

And how the Cross was lifted in the name 
Of Leon and Castile. 

After hearing his experiences the sovereigns 
were overcome with emotion. They sank on their 
knees and gave thanks to God, while the choir in 
the chapel sang in grand chorus, 

We praise Thee, Lord, and Lord, acknowledge Thee, 

And give Thee glory “Holy! Holy! Holy!” 

It was the proudest moment in the career of 
Columbus and indeed a notable one in the history 
of Spain. That country was now reckoned the 



COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 93 


most fortunate in the world. The other nations 
that had scoffed at Columbus and his schemes 
were busy chewing the cud of bitter reflection. 
With the exception of the entry of Jesus into 
Jerusalem, acclaimed as a prophet, the triumphal 
celebration of the return of Columbus stands un¬ 
rivaled. 

During his stay at Barcelona, many banquets 
were given in honor of the hero of the seas. At 
one of these feasts, a jealous courtier hinted 
that the feat of Columbus in crossing the Atlantic 
was nothing extraordinary—anyone could do it. 
All one had to do was to get into a ship and sail 
to the West. 

Columbus quietly reproved the man. He asked 
which guest present could make an egg stand on 
end. No one could do the trick. Thereupon 
Columbus took an egg and set it down hard on 
end, slightly flattening it. “There,” he said, 
quietly, “ anyone of you can do the trick now that 
I have shown you the way.” 

The discoverer made three other voyages to the 
new lands, but found none of the wealth of 
Cathay that Spain was so impatient to gain. 

In the course of his travels Columbus found 
errors in Toscanelli’s map. In his third voy¬ 
age, following the plan of the map in a cer- 


94 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


tain particular, lie ran his vessel close to the 
equator, and entered, unwittingly, the great zone 
of calms. This is a quiet place a little north of 
the equator, between the northern and southern 
trade winds. The sea was like a mirror. The 
vessel seemed motionless and no winds blew. 

The experiences of the sailors in this place were 
harrowing. A writer thus describes them: “The 
wind suddenly fell and a dead sultry calm com¬ 
menced, which lasted for eight days. The air was 
like a furnace, the tar melted, the seams of the 
ship yawned and the salt meat grew putrid; the 
wheat was parched as if by fire, the hoops shrank 
from the water casks, some of which burst; while 
the heat in the holds of the vessels was so suffo¬ 
cating that no one could remain below a sufficient 
length of time to prevent the damage that was 
taking place. 

“The mariners lost all strength and spirit and 
sank under the oppressive heat. It seemed as if 
the old fable of the torrid zone was about to be 
realized and that they were approaching a fiery 
region where it would be impossible to exist.” 

This was the experience of Columbus and his 
crew in the zone of calms. How they watched for 
a wind! But none came, and they lay on the 
waters as idle as “a painted ship upon a painted 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 95 


ocean.” But though there was no wind to waft 
them, a favorable current finally enabled them 
to reach an island where three great mountain 
peaks seemed to loom as one into the heavens. 
Because of this appearance Columbus piously 
named the island Trinidad, in honor of the Holy 
Trinity. 

From Trinidad they sailed along the coast of 
South America, and finally made their way to 
Haiti, where they found much quarreling be¬ 
tween the Indians and the Spaniards. Evil 
passions had been aroused and mischief was 
afloat. 

Columbus at once took charge of the colony, 
but, being a much better sailor than governor, he 
failed to restore order. He made many enemies 
who misrepresented him to the home government 
and urged the Spanish sovereigns to appoint a 
new governor for the colony. 

Upon his arrival, the new officer took complete 
charge of affairs and treated Columbus cruelly. 
In fact Columbus was sent home to Spain in 
chains by this usurper. A poet’s lines are a fit¬ 
ting comment on this outrage. In his verses 
Tennyson pays tribute to the great feat of Colum¬ 
bus and speaks of the shameful abuse that he 
suffered: 


96 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Chains for the Admiral of the ocean! Chains 
For him who gave a new heaven—a new earth; 


Gave glory and more empire to the kings 
Of Spain than all their battles! Chains for him 
Who pushed his prows into the setting sun 
And made West East! 

Columbus was losing favor in Spain, also. 
About this time his fame was eclipsed by that 
of Vasco da Gama, who, in the service of Portu¬ 
gal, had sailed around Africa and reached the 
Spice Islands. He had returned in triumph with 
marvelous tales of vast wealth. He had visited 
great cities where “ proud castles towered and 
gold-roofed temples blazed.” He had been enter¬ 
tained by a powerful monarch who sent letters 
of greeting to the king of Portugal. In his cargo, 
which was worth many times the cost of the ex¬ 
pedition, he carried spices—cloves, pepper, mace 
and ginger. He had brought also rare pearls, 
rubies, emeralds, ivories, ornaments of fine gold, 
a gorgeous sunshade, a glittering sword in a sil¬ 
ver scabbard, and soft damask robes that evi¬ 
denced the pomp and splendor of the East. 

Da Gama met with exciting and alarming ad¬ 
ventures on his important voyage. One of his 
greatest troubles was the terror of his men, 
when, after their vessels crossed the equator, they 
saw the polestar and other familiar stars of the 



COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 97 

northern hemisphere decline and finally disap¬ 
pear from view, while the magnificent constella¬ 
tions of the southern hemisphere rose majesti¬ 
cally upon their 
sight. Upon 
reaching the 
southern ex¬ 
tremity of 
Africa, they en¬ 
countered ter¬ 
rific storms 
similar to those 
faced by Diaz 
in the same re¬ 
gion several 
years before. 

And now Da 
Gama’s vessels 
lingered in 
this tempestu¬ 
ous region three months before rounding the cape. 

Upon his return to Portugal Da Gama was the 
hero of the hour. He was ennobled and treated 
with highest honors. Portugal was called the fa¬ 
vored nation of God. Spain was humbled and 
Columbus was a fraud—a humbug! Such was 
public opinion. In the reaction against him, the 









98 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


sons of the admiral were scarcely safe on the 
streets. Urchins called after them mockingly, 
“There go the sons of the admiral of Mosquito 
Land—the man who discovered a land of vanity 
and deceit—the grave of Spanish gentlemen.’’ 

It was to news like this that poor Columbus 
returned in chains, and it must have been bitter 
indeed to find his repute “surpassed and dimmed 
by the superior haze of Gama’s mighty deeds.” 

Old and broken in spirit, he appeared before 
the sovereigns. At sight of him Isabella was 
moved to tears, and Columbus himself, overcome 
with many emotions, sank sobbing at her feet. 
Upon hearing his story, he was restored to par¬ 
tial favor by their majesties, who promised re¬ 
newed assistance. 

Columbus made a fourth voyage to the new 
lands which brought him neither fame nor for¬ 
tune. Wearying at last of his troubles and disap¬ 
pointments, he returned to Spain. Shortly after 
his arrival there the good queen died, and he thus 
lost his best friend. 

He did not long survive her. On May 20,1506, 
he died in dire poverty, fully persuaded to the 
last that he had discovered a westward route to 
the Indies, and that he had coasted along the 
shores of Cathay. Not the faintest suspicion that 


COLUMBUS BECAME A WORLD FINDER 99 

he had found a New World had ever crossed his 
mind. 

His remains were placed in a Franciscan mon¬ 
astery at Valladolid, but were removed to Seville 
in 1513. Ten years later they were transported to 
Santo Domingo and some time afterward to 
Havana, Cuba, where it is supposed they still 
rest. 

Four hundred years after his great discovery 
a celebration in honor of Columbus was held in 
our own country in the busy city of Chicago. 
This was called the 4 ‘Columbian Exposition.” 
Exhibits for display were sent from all countries 
of the world and the event was attended by thou¬ 
sands of people, all of whom must have felt that 
they were honoring one of the greatest heroes of 
history. 


He gained a world; he gave that world 
Its grandest lesson: 4 ‘ On! Sail on! 11 


CHAPTER YII 

HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 


T HE inhabitants of the New World were of 
an entirely different type from any that the 
Europeans had ever seen before. Organized into 
tribes, each having its own chief, they were not 
very numerous, but were widely scattered over 
the great area of the two continents. Their lan¬ 
guages were many, each tribe having its own 
mode of speech. 

With the exception of the northern Eskimo 
Indians, who were of smaller stature than the 
others, these people were much the same in ap¬ 
pearance in all parts of the country. They were 
all of the same reddish cinnamon color, with 
small, keen, beady black eyes, rather thick lips, 
high cheek bones and long, coarse black hair. 
Eond of gay colors, they painted their faces in 
spots or stripes, giving the countenance a gro¬ 
tesque and shocking appearance. 

The costume of the Indian varied with the 
climate in which he lived. In warm regions he 
wore little but his paint. In cooler places he ‘ar¬ 
rayed himself in tanned deerskin or coarse cloth 
100 


HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 


101 



woven from the yucca plant. In the very coldest 
sections he often used the coats of his furred 
brothers of the forest 
for his garb. Moc¬ 
casins, gayly em¬ 
broidered with tiny 
shells, coveredhis 
feet, and a headdress 
having claws or 
feathers or even the 
bones of human fin¬ 
gers for a decoration, 
gave him a fantastic 
appearance. A belt 
beaded with shells 
completed his cos¬ 
tume. The shell beads 
were called wampum 
and served as money. 

The Indian’s 
weapons of warfare 
were rude stone axes, 
and bows and arrows The American Indian 

tipped with heads of 

flint, jasper or chalcedony. The poet Longfellow 
gives us this fine description of an Indian ready 


for the hunt: 








102 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Dressed for travel, armed for hunting, 

Dressed in deerskin shirt and leggings, 

Richly wrought with quills and wampum, 

On his head his eagle feathers, 

Round his waist his belt of wampum, 

In his hand his bow of ashwood, 

Strung with sinews of the reindeer, 

In his quiver oaken arrows, 

Tipped with jasper, winged with feathers. 

The male Indians were called braves, the fe¬ 
male squaws. An Indian baby was a papoose, 
whose cradle was a flat piece of wood to which 
a bag or pouch of leather was attached. The pa¬ 
poose was placed in the pouch which was 
strapped to the mother’s back, or else it was 
swung on the limb of a tree or set against its 
trunk while the mother worked at various tasks. 
The squaws farmed, did the domestic work and 
cared for the children. The only business of the 
proud braves was hunting and fighting. 

The principal food was corn pounded into 
flour, made into cakes and baked in hot ashes. 
Sometimes the corn was parched, for in this form 
it could be carried in a bag when the tribe was on 
a march, and would be ready for use. 

The various utensils used by the Indians were 
all made by the squaws. They were wooden ves¬ 
sels or pottery of common clay. The squaws also 
wove baskets of reeds and rushes. 


HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 


103 


The Indian boats were canoes, some of which 
were made by hollowing out a log until it was 
properly shaped. They also made birchbark 
canoes. The canoes were moved through the 
waters by means of clumsy paddles. 



Types of Indian Dwellings 


The commonest dwelling was a tent called a 
wigwam. It was made of bark or skins upheld by 
poles, and consisted of one undivided room, 
whose only furnishings were mats used for beds. 

One Indian tribe built what is known as a Long 
House. This was a single building about one hun¬ 
dred feet long, having a covering of bark for a 
roof. A hall ran through the center, with a num¬ 
ber of apartments on either side. For every four 
apartments a fireplace was provided at which the 
cooking was done. The chief officer in a Long 
House was a Mother Indian who was the matron 
and settled all disputes. 

The Eskimo Indians of the far north lived in 













104 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


houses fashioned of snow or blocks of ice. In 
some parts of the Southwest the Indian tribes 
lived in pueblos, fortlike structures formed 
of adobe or sun-dried clay. A pueblo was fre¬ 
quently a five- or six-storied edifice, each story be¬ 
ing smaller than the one beneath it, giving the 
whole building the appearance of stairs. Some¬ 
times a single pueblo housed a thousand inmates. 

Through the central region, chiefly in the val¬ 
leys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, certain 
tribes had erected extensive mounds, on some of 
which houses were built. The mounds were often 
thirty to forty feet in height and from seven to 
eight hundred feet in circumference. They were 
fashioned in either bird, animal or serpent shape. 
Some were used as cemeteries and in these have 
been found curious and interesting relics, such 
as necklaces, chains, shells, bones and pottery. 
One of the most remarkable mounds is in Adams 
County, Ohio. This curious structure is over one 
thousand feet long. It is shaped like a serpent 
with a coiled tail. In its mouth it seems to hold 
another smaller mound, egg-shaped. 

Another curious style of dwelling was that of 
the cliff-dwellers of the west. The residences of 
these people were built in cavelike openings on 
the sides of the cliffs. The dwellings perched upon 


HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 


105 


the very highest rocks, could be reached only by 
narrow, winding paths, thus making the dwel¬ 
lers secure from attack or intrusion. Sometimes a 
shelving rock jutted out over the walls and 
formed a roof over the strange dwelling. Ruins 
of thousands of these cliff houses, built on the 
mountain sides, row upon row, still exist. 

The religious belief of the Indians provided 
for the worship of many gods, some evil and some 
good. Each tribe or clan had its own special god, 
which was represented by some animal form, a 
rude figure of which was carved on a pole and 
became the totem or guardian spirit of the clan. 
These same totems were often painted on the 
grave posts to protect the departed. Longfellow 
speaks of this custom in these lines: 

And they painted on the grave-posts 
On the graves yet nnforgotten, 

Each his own ancestral totem, 

Each the symbol of his household, 

Figures of the bear or reindeer, 

Of the turtle, crane and beaver. 

The Indians were firm believers in magic, and 
had a great store of tales about ghosts and fairies, 
pygmies and giants. One of the most highly hon¬ 
ored men in the tribe was the “Medicine Man.” 
He was supposed to be able to banish sickness, 


106 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


which was looked upon as being caused by an evil 
spirit. 

Every good Indian cherished the hope that 
after death he would reach his heaven, which was 
called “The Happy Hunting Grounds,’’ where a 
kind Great Spirit ruled and where life was a 
long hunt, with plenty of good things to eat. 

The redman’s amusements were limited to 
story-telling and dancing. The story-teller, gen¬ 
erally a very boastful brave, was the most popu¬ 
lar member of the tribe. His listeners never 
wearied of the tales of the gods and the heroic 
legends with which he entertained them. 

Dances were indulged in on many occasions. 
The green corn dance, held when the corn waved 
its tassels like yellow flags in the air, was a peace 
festival, performed about a sacred fire. At its con¬ 
clusion a flaming torch was passed from hand to . 
hand as a token of brotherly love. 

The hunting dance celebrated the hunt of the 
deer, and the new moon dance was inspired by the 
appearance of the slim, silver crescent in the 
western sky. The war dance, a prelude to war, 
was performed by braves who made themselves 
quite appalling for the occasion by war paint and 
war plumes. The dance began mildly enough to 
the music of drums and the wild, monotonous 


HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 


107 


chant of chosen singers. As it proceeded, how¬ 
ever, the performers grew excited and whirled 
wildly round and round, working themselves into 
a frenzy, flourishing their tomahawks and giving 
vent to shrieks and war whoops. 



Indian Warfare 


Indian warfare was very cruel, the unfortunate 
captives being burned at the stake and tortured 
in various ways. The warriors were not open 
fighters and their favorite mode of attack was 
out of ambush. 

Occasionally, to avoid a war or to make a treaty 
after one was held, the braves would gather in a 
great Peace Council. On this occasion the war 



108 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


hatchet was buried with solemn ceremonies. 
After this had been done a peace pipe four feet 
long was smoked in turn by each member of the 
Council. The pledges made at these meetings 
were easily broken, for the Indian had small re¬ 
spect for his own solemn pledges. 

Education for the Indian was limited to the 
teachings of nature. The forest was his in¬ 
structor and from it he learned many things. 

Learned of every bird its language, 

Learned their names and all their secrets, 

How they built their nests in summer, 

Where they hid themselves in winter; 

Of all beasts he learned the language, 

Learned their names and all their secrets, 

How the beavers built their lodges, • 

Where the squirrels hid their acorns, 

Why the reindeer ran so swiftly, 

Why the rabbit was so timid. 

The principal Indian tribes lived in North 
America, where they were organized into great 
hands. East of the Mississippi the Creeks, Iro¬ 
quois and Algonquins were found. The Iroquois 
lived about where New York state is now located; 
the Creeks occupied Florida and the neighbor¬ 
hood of the Gulf of Mexico; while the Algonquins 
claimed the regions between the other two groups. 

The coming of the white man meant a complete 
revolution in the life of the Indian. When the 


HOW THE INDIANS LIVED 


109 



© Underwood, & Underwood 


Sioux Indian Chief 




110 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Indian first gazed on the—to him—wondrous 
visitors, could he have had a vision of the future 
and the changes to be, he would have seen 

. . . the westward marches 
Of the unknown crowded nations, 

And the land was full of people, 

Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, 

Speaking many tongues, yet feeling 
But one heart-throb in their bosoms. 

He would have seen, too, what would have been 
to him a sadder vision, described in the words the 
poet puts into the mouth of Hiawatha: 

. . . the remnants of our people 
Sweeping westward, wild and woeful, 

Like the cloud rack of a tempest, 

Like the withered leaves of autumn. 

To-day these things have come to pass in 
America. The Indians have been called a “ Van¬ 
ishing Race.” Very few of them are now found 
in our land. The government has set apart a 
special section in the West for those that still re¬ 


main. 


CHAPTER VIII 

HOW ENGLAND SOUGHT CATHAY 

I NSPIRED by the success attending the ven¬ 
ture of Columbus, other rovers began to think 
of following the lead of the great mariner. 
Among these was a man named John Cabot, an 
Italian living in England. Cabot had consider¬ 
able experience as a traveler, having been as far 
east as Arabia, where he visited Mecca, the Holy 
City of the Mohammedans. In that city he had 
seen caravans loaded with the precious spices so 
much desired in Europe. Cabot questioned the 
turbaned traders as to where the spices grew, and 
learned from them that they were found in the 
far eastern part of Asia. 

Cabot wondered, as did all Europe, how the 
Spice Lands could be reached. He remembered 
the information given him by the traders in 
Mecca, and began to think, as Columbus was do¬ 
ing, that the eastern shores might be reached by 
sailing westward. But he did not try to put his 
ideas into execution until after Columbus had 
successfully made his venture. 

Cabot was living in England in the town of 
111 


112 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Bristol when he heard of the discoveries of 
Columbus. Convinced that Columbus had reached 
the Asian shores, he began to plan a shorter route 
in a more northerly direction. Eager to make a 
trial of his theory, he applied to Henry VII, king 
of England, for help. That ruler, anxious for 
glory (and wealth also), granted Cabot letters 
which authorized him and his sons to sail east, 
west and north to seek new lands for the king. 

Doubting British sailors sneered at the scheme, 
and declared that Cabot was chasing shadows, 
and that he might as well fling nets to catch the 
stars as to think of sailing the utmost seas. 

But Cabot was a skillful and courageous mar¬ 
iner. Undismayed at their prophecies of failure, 
he set out with a single ship and a crew of only 
eighteen men. The departure was made very 
modestly from the port of Bristol on a bright day 
in May, 1497. There was no pomp nor ceremony, 
no flourish of trumpets nor roar of guns to cele¬ 
brate the occasion. The ship just quietly slipped 
away over the waste of waters with the Spice 
Islands for a goal. 

Cabot steered the vessel to the northwest, 
vainly hoping that route would lead to the cov¬ 
eted shores. After a voyage of several weeks, one 
morning in June, just at daybreak, the travelers 


HOW ENGLAND SOUGHT CATHAY 


113 



Cabot and His Men Exploring 


came in sight of a rough, lonely shore that loomed 
up in the west. This was Nova Scotia, a part of 
the mainland of North America. 

Cabot and his crew were the first white men to 
see those shores since the days of Leif the Lucky. 
The voyagers went ashore and found they were in 
a great wilderness. Though they met no people 
they found signs that the land was inhabited. 
Certain of the trees were notched, nets for catch- 



















114 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


ing game, and needles for making the nets, were 
scattered about. Cabot floated the English flag 
and took possession of the land in the name of 
King Henry. He gave the name “Land First 
Seen” to the country. 

The party did but little exploring and returned 
to England to report the voyage. They carried 
back no gold, to be sure, but brought as souvenirs 
of the new land some wild turkeys, snares, 
needles, and the rib of a whale, a trophy they 
found on the beach. 

The news of Cabot’s discovery roused great ex¬ 
citement and interest in England. He was re¬ 
ceived with much favor by the king, who gave 
him the title of Grand Admiral and presented 
him with the generous gift of ten pounds. The 
mariner was quite elated over his fame, and, to 
attract attention, aped the airs of the aristocracy 
and dressed in fine, showy garments of silk. The 
people went wild about him, and when he ap¬ 
peared on the streets there was sure to be a crowd 
running after him, cheering him for his exploits. 
Everybody believed he had landed on Asian 
shores and it was thought that his majesty, the 
king, had gained a part of Asia without a stroke 
of the sword. The merchants were particularly 
pleased, for they thought a trade would now be 


HOW ENGLAND SOUGHT CATHAY 


115 


established between the countries and London 
would become a great commercial center such as 
Genoa and Venice had been in days gone by. 

Cabot planned 
another voyage 
but death balked 
his intentions. 

His son Sebas¬ 
tian, however, in 
1498, made a sec- 
ondtrip. On 
reaching the west¬ 
ern shores, Sebas¬ 
tian cruised about 
until he came to 
Hudson Bay. He 
coasted off the 
shores of Lab¬ 
rador, and here 
he found great 
schools of fishes, seals, salmon, cod and soles fully 
three feet long. There were such immense num¬ 
bers of the cod that the vessels could scarcely 
make headway through them. 

Cabot turned the boats farther north and there, 
in a bitterly cold region of mist and snow, he en¬ 
countered enormous icebergs broken off from the 







116 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Cabot’s Ship off the Shores of Labrador 


northern glaciers. The icy mountains looked like 
moving palaces or lofty pinnacles, and the vessels 
were compelled to move among them slowly and 
cautiously. Convinced that the spices of Cathay 
were not to he found in these icy regions, Cabot 
turned his vessels south and coasted as far as 
North Carolina, after which he returned to 
England. 

This second voyage was a great disappointment 
to the English people, who were eagerly watching 
for the gold and spices of the East. The fish and 
furs which the returned voyagers described 













HOW ENGLAND SOUGHT CATHAY 


117 


seemed to England a poor substitute for the 
wealth of the Indies. Yet, although England did 
not realize it at the time, a very important thing 
happened for the world when the Cabots landed 
in America, for it was upon the basis of their dis¬ 
coveries that England, later on, laid claim to 
rights in America. The holding of this claim 
meant the introduction of English ideals into the 
New World. It meant free government and in¬ 
dividual rights for the people of the United 
States at least. For, later on, when the English 
colonies cut loose from the Mother Country and 
set up a government of their own, they founded it 
largely upon English ideals. 


CHAPTER IX 

HOW AMERICA GOT ITS NAME 


I N 1494, after the second voyage of Columbus, 
it seemed likely that the jealousy of Portugal, 
the other great maritime power of the times, 
would lead to trouble with Spain. To avoid a dis¬ 
pute, the two nations agreed that the Pope, Alex¬ 
ander VI, as head of the Church, was the one to 
establish a boundary line dividing their posses¬ 
sions. This line, known as the Line of De¬ 
marcation, was 370 leagues west of the Cape 
Verde Islands and ran from about the central 
part of Greenland southward through the eastern 
part of the country we call Brazil. According to 
the treaty all lands discovered east of the line 
were to belong to Portugal, all west to Spain. 
This fixed things very nicely for Spain and 
Portugal, for it just about divided the New 
World and the Indies between them. Later on, 
however, as we shall see, other nations objected 
to this appropriation of the New World by Spain. 

The first claim of the Portuguese under the di¬ 
vision was made in 1500. In that year a Portu¬ 
guese mariner, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, set out to 
118 


HOW AMERICA GOT ITS NAME 


119 


make a journey to the Indies, intending to follow 
the Da Gama route around southern Africa. Ad¬ 
verse winds blew him from his course, and, to his 
surprise, he found himself far to the west off a 
strange coast, that of Brazil. Cabral reported the 
news to Portugal 
and the king de¬ 
cide d to explore 
the new region 
and claim it. 

Accordingly an 
expedition for 
that purpose was 
sent out in 1501 in 
charge of Ameri- 
cus Yespucius, a 
black - haired, 
black-eyed Flor¬ 
entine pilot who 
had already voy¬ 
aged for Spain 
along the South 
American coast. Vespucius was well-educated, 
being especially learned in astronomy. His 
collection of globes and charts was far famed. 
His knowledge of astronomy made him a desir¬ 
able pilot, in which capacity he made four voy- 






120 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


ages to the new lands. Two of these voyages 
were in the service of Portugal and two in that 
of Spain. All his explorations were along the 
South American coast, which he traversed almost 
its entire length. 

In the first voyage he sighted the mainland 
eighteen days before Cabot saw it in the north. 
His most interesting voyage was his third one. 
In this the adventurer with his crew sailed far 
down the coast of South America out of the 
tropical region until they reached a latitude 
where the nights were fifteen hours long. In this 
place they met appalling storms, accompanied by 
fog and sleet. 

Their vessel, driven by furious winds, was 
swept from the coast to the neighborhood of the 
island of South Georgia, which is about twelve 
hundred miles east of the southern part of South 
America. This island is famed as the dreariest 
place on the globe. It is a scarred, craggy, temp¬ 
est-ridden spot, surrounded by ice-floes and sub¬ 
ject to blinding snows. 

The hardships encountered in this place de¬ 
cided the voyagers to set sail for home, where 
they arrived duly. 

In certain letters written to friends, Americus 
gave lively accounts of his experiences. He de- 


HOW AMERICA GOT ITS NAME 


121 


scribed the fine harbors of the coast, the climate 
of the different latitudes, the character of the 
land in various 
places, and the 
habits and appear- 
ance of the an¬ 
imals, plants and 
people. 

In one of these 
letters Yespucius 
called the southern 
land he had seen a 
New World. The 
letter was pub¬ 
lished and the 
name soon passed 
into popular usage. 

A copy of this let¬ 
ter fell into the hands of a German named Wald- 
seemiiller, who was a professor of geography in 
a college. It interested him at once. He was 
writing a book in which he mentioned the discov¬ 
ery of the New World, ascribing the feat to 
Americus and suggesting that the land be named 
America in his honor. The suggestion caught the 
popular fancy, and it eventually became the 
name of the two continents. 










122 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


The remarkable voyages of Vespucius into the 
unknown reaches of the Sea of Darkness cor¬ 
rected several errors in the geographical idea of 
the world. By them the existence of a habitable 
land in the Atlantic Ocean south of the equator 
was proved. The great extent of the land also 
made it clear that the new land was a continent 
and no mere island. The continent, however, was 
still supposed to be located off the coast of Asia. 
No one dreamed that another great ocean sep¬ 
arated it from that land. 

The story of the discovery of that ocean, the 
greatest on the earth, is told in the next chapter. 


CHAPTER X 

THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC 


T HE understanding of the fact that Columbus 
had led the way to a new continent entirely 
separate from Asia grew slowly and gradually. 
It took many years of explorations by other navi¬ 
gators to bring about this recognition of the 
truth. As the different coasts were explored map- 
makers began to arrange charts with the new por¬ 
tions placed as the discoveries seemed to warrant. 
However, before anything like a correct map 
could be made, it was necessary that the Pacific 
Ocean should be discovered. This important 
event happened in 1513. 

The discoverer of the mightiest ocean of the 
earth was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, a handsome 
Spaniard who had a very romantic life. Lured 
like many others to the new lands by enticing 
tales of golden treasures, Balboa settled at Santo 
Domingo. Being of a very wasteful nature, he 
was soon deeply in debt. As his creditors were 
pressing in their claims, he determined to leave 
the settlement and he adopted an original plan 
to escape arrest. With the assistance of a serv- 
123 


124 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


ant, he had himself nailed up in a barrel (in 
which air-holes had been bored) and carried 

aboard a vessel 
that was about to 
leave the port. 
When the vessel 
was well out at 
sea, his servant, 
who accompanied 
him, opened the 
cask and the pris- 
o n er emerged 
from his cramped 
quarters. The 
captain of the 
vessel was very 
angry at the trick 
that had been 
played on him, but Balboa promised to make 
himself useful and was forgiven. 

The vessel made its way to Darien on the 
Isthmus of Panama, where Balboa soon became 
a popular leader. One day an Indian gave the 
colonists a quantity of gold dust and they at once 
quarreled noisily about the division of the treas¬ 
ure. Seeing this the Indian told them they could 
get great quantities of the metal far away across 







THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC 


125 



the mountains. There, he explained, they would 
find a great sea into which rivers of gold flowed, 
and beyond which 
lay a land where 
gold was found in 
abundance. Much 
excited over this 
news, the Span¬ 
iards, with Bal¬ 
boa fora leader, 
set out at once to 
find the goal. 

They all wore ar¬ 
mor and carried 
with them their 
swords. Accom¬ 
panied by blood¬ 
hounds asafur- 
ther defense, they 
began their jour¬ 
ney across the 
isthmus to the 
gold regions, 
early in Septem¬ 
ber, 1513, quite determined to conquer “fresh 
fields and fair for royal Spain.” 

The distance was short, being scarcely forty- 


Balboa’s Servant Nails Him in a 
Barrel 










126 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



five miles, but the journey was a terrible one. It 
took twenty-two days. During that time they trav¬ 
ersed rugged mountains with yawning chasms, 
and cut their way, inch by inch, through a vast, 
tangled jungle of trees, vines and under¬ 
brush. Monkeys screamed at them from the 
branches, parrots scolded and chattered, wild 
beasts glared at them, insects pestered them and 

































THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC 


127 


huge reptiles coiled on their path, while hostile 
Indians stubbornly contested the right of way. 
But through it all, Balboa set his face like a flint. 
Undeterred by beetling crags and deep gorges, 
impassable torrents, and all manner of hardships, 
he urged his men on. 

At last, toil-stained, tattered, bleeding, travel- 
worn, they came to the great peak from whose 
summit they were to view the sea. Leaving his 
men huddled at the base of the mountain, Balboa 
pushed on upward alone. Reaching the summit, 
he gazed on the most amazing sight in the world— 
the mighty ocean afterward called the Pacific. 
Overcome with emotion and awe, he sank on his 
knees and thanked God for the privilege of the 
view. Then he called his men to gaze with him. 
To commemorate the occasion, they fashioned a 
tree-trunk into a cross and raised it on the peak 
at the point from which Balboa first saw the 
ocean. This was on September 25, 1513. A poet 
writes of this occasion, picturing how Balboa, 

. . . with eagle eyes 

. . . stared at the Pacific, and all his men 
Looked at each other with a wild surmise, 

Silent upon a peak in Darien. 

Balboa and his companions, anxious to taste 
the water and prove it salt, scrambled down the 


128 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



slope to the shore. Reaching it at ebb tide, they 
waited for the waters to return. As the tide rolled 
in, Balboa, a fine figure in his gleaming armor, 
holding his sword in one hand and the banner of 
Spain in the other, waded out into the waters and 
took possession of the ocean and all the lands in 
it for the sovereign of Spain. 

Eager to tell the tale of the great discovery he 
























THE DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC 


129 


led the men back to Darien, where he obtained 
material for building ships. These materials he 
had transported across the isthmus to the Pacific 
shores and there built the first ships that ven¬ 
tured that vast ocean. Suppose, when Balboa 
commanded the expedition that painfully carried 
the ship materials across the isthmus, there had 
flashed before him a vision of what was to happen 
in the future—suppose he had seen, as on a 
screen, the wonderful Panama Canal, with its 
mighty locks and great steamships passing 
through them from ocean to ocean—would he not 
have thought it a wild dream ? 

Balboa’s stay on the Pacific shores was com¬ 
paratively brief. He was summoned to Darien 
by a jealous rival who accused him of treason. On 
this charge he was executed, but his name is im¬ 
mortal as the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean. 


130 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Showing Routes of Early Explorers 


































CHAPTER XI 

CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE 

W HILE the European world was still thrill¬ 
ing with the spirit of discovery, another 
bold mariner attempted and accomplished the 
most wonderful voyage of the world. This mar¬ 
iner was a Portuguese, Ferdinand Magellan, who 
traveled in the interests of Spain. Slightly lame, 
heavy-jawed and shaggy-bearded, Magellan had 
a kind but strong countenance, lighted by pierc¬ 
ing black eyes. He lived in the era of Columbus, 
Cabot, Ha Gama, Vespucius and Balboa. 

All the world was talking of the discoveries of 
these men. The new lands had been called the 
New World. Balboa had told of a great ocean 
to the west between the New World and the cov¬ 
eted Indies. Magellan had once been to those 
isles of delight, having made the trip by the route 
around Africa. Upon learning of the great sea to 
the west of the New World, and believing the 
world to be round, he conceived the plan of cir¬ 
cumnavigating it. 

No one had any idea of the width of the conti¬ 
nent, nor the extent of the Pacific. Magellan was 
131 


132 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


of the opinion that a strait would be found lead¬ 
ing through the new lands from the Atlantic coast 
to the South Sea, as the Pacific was then called. 

If such a strait 
did exist, he 
meant to follow 
the land to its 
extremity and 
round it, thus en¬ 
ter in g the new 
ocean. 

Full of his 
scheme, he offered 
his services to his 
own country. His 
offer rejected, he 
next tried Spain. 
It had been de- 
cided that Da 
Gama’s journey 
had given Portugal the right to trade with the 
Indies, as they lay east of the line. Spain, anx¬ 
ious for a similar right, eagerly accepted Magel¬ 
lan’s offer to find a westward route to the same 
goal. She furnished him five ships, all old and 
unseaworthy. His crew was a mixture of many 
nationalities, and but few were trustworthy. 







CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE 


133 



Magellan Sails Through the Straits That Bear His Name 


With this force Magellan set sail from Spain in 
September, 1519. His course led him to the coast 
of South America. He cruised about for some 
time, making an occasional stop to trade with the 
natives, to whom the merest gaudy trifles were 
given in exchange for articles of value. One of 
the best bargains the white men made was the 
exchange of a little tinkling bell for a bushel of 
potatoes. In another trade they obtained a great 
quantity of fine fish for a pair of old scissors 
which the wandering Indians believed to be pos¬ 
sessed of magic power. 

Ever alert, Magellan kept his eye on the coast, 






134 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Trading with the Natives 


on the lookout for a strait. As none appeared, he 
kept on toward the south, determined to find the 
passage or the end of the continent. Hardships 
and dangers beset the course of the voyagers. In 
one place they were becalmed for seventy days, 
and the sailors feared they had found their way 
into a region of no winds from which they would 
never escape. 

When they reached the southern latitudes, the 
weather grew intensely cold and the food dimin¬ 
ished so rapidly that it became necessary to por¬ 
tion it out strictly. 





CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE 


135 


The men rebelled and begged to be allowed to 
reverse their course, but Magellan, as determined 
as Columbus, only said, 44 Sail on! Steer for the 
South!” 

Like Columbus, too, he tried to cheer them with 
stories of the rich rewards they would yet gain in 
the Spice Islands. As they neared the southern 
part of the continent the cold grew more intense, 
and they encountered heavy fogs that made the 
sea seem full of shadows. Then came storms. 
The weltering waters battered their ships and 
darkness encompassed them. 

The sky went out, the waters disappeared, 

They felt a shocking pressure of blowing whirl 
The ship upon her side. The darkness speared 
At her with wind. She staggered, she careened, 

Then down she lay. Then the snow 
Whirled all about—dense—multitudinous—cold, 

Mixed with the wind’s own devilish thrust and shriek. 

However, in spite of fog, storm and cold, Ma¬ 
gellan compelled his men to press on. At last 
they reached Patagonia, where they anchored for 
the winter. The natives, who wore wildly flowing 
hair and were so unusually tall that they ap¬ 
peared like giants, were inclined to be friendly 
with the white men. 

When the weather moderated the sailors pro¬ 
ceeded on their way, and at last came to the long- 


136 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


looked-f or passage. At sight of it Magellan shed 
tears of joy, even though it looked very forbid¬ 
ding, with high snow-covered mountains tower¬ 
ing on either side. It took the ships five weeks 
to work their way through its winding passages. 
The men, fearing they would never get out, and 
would starve to death, again begged to go back, 
but Magellan said they must go on, if they 
had to eat the leather from the rigging of the 
ships. So they toiled on through the dread jaws 
of rock. At last, after encountering fog and snow 
and enduring untold sufferings, they made their 
way through and beheld a great, gray sea running 
up to the sky, as it seemed. This was the tremen¬ 
dous South Sea of Balboa, “where never man 
before had heard the waves howl!” 

On through the waters the storm-battered 
ships limped as if lame. So peaceful the ocean 
appeared to the weary voyagers after the awful 
tempests they had endured, that Magellan called 
it the Pacific, which name it bears to-day. He 
also piously named the passage he discovered the 
Strait of All Saints, but it has since been named 
for himself. 

Over the wide Pacific the ships sailed for 
months and months, taking a northerly direction 
to avoid the icy southern blasts. In the course of 


CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE 137 

their seemingly endless journey their food gave 
out, and the horrors of starvation confronted 
them. Driven by 
hunger to des¬ 
perate straits, 
they scraped up 
wormy crumbs, 
ate rats and even 
strips of leather 
torn from the 
yard-arms of the 
ships. 

As they sailed 
over the limitless 
miles of the 
mighty ocean, 
these men began 
to understand the 
tremendous extent of the world. How they 
watched for the sight of land and when, after 
more than three weary months, their course led 
them to some islands in the Pacific, what joy they 
felt! 

The islands were the Ladrones, in the China 
Sea, known in Spanish as the Thieves’ Islands. 
After some trouble here, they proceeded on their 
way and on March 6, reached the Philippine Is- 



CUTTING OFF THE LEATHER FROM 

the Yard-Arms for Food 




138 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


lands, where their sufferings ended, for they 
found friendly people who amply provided for 
their needs. 

The landing of Magellan in these islands placed 
them in the possession of Spain, but if the sense 
of the voyager had been attuned to the hidden fu¬ 
ture, he would have heard the thunder of guns yet 
to he fired in Manila Bay; he would have seen a 
starry flag floating mast high over the ships of 
a nation yet to be—a nation destined to free those 
islands from the galling fetters of the Spanish 
yoke. 

Like all the explorers of his time, Magellan was 
tinged with the missionary spirit, and tried to 
convert the heathens in the islands. This attempt 
led to a dispute and war in which Magellan was 
killed. His men, bereft of their brave leader, 
made their way from the east and began their 
homeward voyage. After incredible hardships 
one vessel, with a captain and eighteen gaunt, 
haggard sailors, got back to Spain. They had 
been gone three years and had crossed the equator 
four times on their trip around the world. Their 
ship had in its hold a valuable cargo of spices 
worth far more than the cost of the expedition. 

Though Magellan did not return, it was to his 
intrepid spirit the victory was due, for, with frail 


CIRCUMNAVIGATING THE GLOBE 


139 


ships, navigating unknown seas, and surrounded 
by mutinous crews, he had inspired the accom¬ 
plishment of the gigantic feat of circumnavigat¬ 
ing the globe. 

This was the most extraordinary voyage the 
world had ever seen. It settled forever the idea 
of the shape of the earth and made the nations of 
Europe realize there was a New World in the 
western hemisphere entirely separate from the 
lands of the eastern one. 

Ideas of geography had to be reorganized. Be¬ 
fore this voyage the maps had represented only 
a northern and southern hemisphere. Now they 
represented an eastern and a western one. On 
these maps South America was imaged fairly cor¬ 
rectly, but as North America had been only 
partly explored, the representation of it was 
much distorted. Many other adventurers would 
have to try their fortunes before a chart could be 
made that would give an idea of the extent of 
the territory to be opened to colonization. 


CHAPTER XII 

SPANISH EXPLORATIONS IN THE 
INTERIOR OF AMERICA 

T HE work of the earliest explorers of the 
American continent was confined mainly to 
the coasts of the new lands. To get a knowledge 
of the true geographical aspect of the continents, 
and to understand their shape and bulk, it would 
be necessary to explore the interior. In this at¬ 
tempt the Spaniards led the way, as they had in 
the coast explorations. The most noted of the 
explorers of the North American portions were 
Ponce de Leon, Hernando Cortez, Cabeza de 
Vaca, Francisco Coronado and Hernandez de 
Soto. 

About the time Balboa was crossing the isth¬ 
mus of Panama, Ponce de Leon, a fine Spanish 
gentleman, entered the territory of what is now 
the United States. Ponce was used to pomp 
and pageantry, for in his boyhood he was a page 
at the Court of Spain. When he was a man of 
over thirty, he had accompanied Columbus on 
his second voyage. For a great many years 
afterward he spent much of his time in the New 


140 


SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 141 

World. He became one of the conquerors of 
Porto Rico. 

While in this island he heard whispers of a 
marvelous fountain which possessed the power of 
bestowing youth eternal upon those who bathed 
in its waters. Ponce was an old man at this time 
and had lost his health. His hair was thin and 
gray, and upon his face old Father Time had 
plowed deep furrows. 

Ponce was much grieved over these tricks of 
Time. He longed for the strength and lightness, 
the freshness and charm of dewy youth. When 
he heard of the magic fountain that restored 
youth to the aged, his heart leaped for joy and 
he determined to seek it—he would rather find it 
than gain the riches of Kublai Khan. 

He manned an expedition and began his search. 

By day his light canvas he shifted, 

And rounded strange harbors and bars; 

By night on the full tides he drifted, 

’Neath the low-hanging lamps of the stars. 

Finally in his wanderings he came to the coast 
of a land heavily verdured with green palms and 
palmettos, where the odor of magnolia, jessamine 
and honeysuckle enticed, where millions of water 
lilies lifted their beautiful cups to the sapphire 
sky. To Ponce it seemed that this land was 


142 STEER FOR NEW SHORES 

brighter than the sunny Antilles.and fairer than 
the shady Azores. This was surely the home of 

the fountain he 
sought. 

He landed, and 
as the day was 
what is known in 
Spanish as Pascua 
Florida (which in 
English means 
“Flowery East¬ 
er”), he called the 
land Florida, a 
name it has borne 
ever since. This 
was in the year 
1513. 

Ponce took pos- 
session of the 
land for Spain, 
and with his companions spent several years ex¬ 
ploring the region. The group endured many 
hardships and encountered fierce tribes of hostile 
Indians. No doubt poor Ponce tried every river 
and spring he met, hoping it might be the one he 
sought. But no miracle happened. He just kept on 
getting older and more infirm each year and at 








SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


143 


last in a fight with the natives he was killed. Who 
knows whether, in that New World that only 
those who have tasted death may explore, he 
found the longed-for Fountain of Youth! 

A poet wrote this toast to brave old Ponce de 
Leon: 

You that crossed the ocean bold, 

Not from greed of Inca’s gold, 

But to search by vale and mount, 

Wood and rock the wizard fount 
Where Time’s harm is well undone— 

Here’s to Ponce de Leon! 

Some time after the attempt of Ponce to find 
the Fountain of Youth in the new lands, another 
Spaniard named Hernando Cortez, lured by the 
delusive firefly of gold, joined a small Spanish 
settlement in Cuba and there helped to found the 
city of Santiago. 

Cortez, bold, daring and reckless, was an ex¬ 
pert swordsman and a splendid horseman. The 
governor of Cuba having heard wonderful stories 
of the great wealth of certain Indians in Mexico, 
sent an expedition in command of Cortez to make 
a conquest of that country. 

Upon arriving in Mexico (which was named 
for the Aztec god, Mexitl) Cortez and his com¬ 
panions were at first mistaken for beings of a 
celestial race by the wondering Indians, who had 


144 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


never seen white men before. The actions of the 
white men, alas! soon undeceived the Indians 

concerning their 
heavenly origin. 

While in the 
lowlands Cortez 
heard tales of a 
great chief named 
Montezuma who 
governed the Az¬ 
tec tribe living in 
the interior of the 
country. As this 
chief was reputed 
to be of immense 
wealth, Cortez at 
once determined 
to seek him and 
secure this wealth 
for himself. The journey to the Aztec domain 
promised many hardships, and to make retreat 
from the land impossible, Cortez boldly sank his 
ships on the shore, saying to his alarmed com¬ 
panions that none but cowards needed a means 
of retreat. With the ships gone, there was noth¬ 
ing left for the men but to follow their leader, 
who pressed on into the interior. 




SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


145 


Though reports concerning the Indians whom 
they sought were grossly exaggerated, the Span¬ 
iards found that they had achieved a considerable 
degree of civiliza¬ 
tion and were con¬ 
gregated in large 
cities under the 
government of a 
king. The prin¬ 
cipal city was 
Tenochtitlan, the 
City of the Cactus 
Rock, which later 
became the City of 
Mexico. A legend 
tells us that in the 
early days of the 
Aztec rule a war¬ 
rior of the tribe, hard pressed by foes, took 
refuge in a marshy place where he found a stone 
with a crevice in which a cactus plant was grow¬ 
ing. An eagle holding a serpent in its beak was 
perched on the plant. Inspired by the gods, so 
he said, the Aztec built a city in the place and 
called it Tenochtitlan, which meant the Place of 
the Cactus Rock. A device commemorating the 
story is used as the arms of Mexico to-day. 







146 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Cortez Enters Mexico 


With the city of Tenochtitlan as a center, the 
Aztec tribe developed a unique civilization. The 
invading Spaniards were amazed to find there 
cement roads, artificial lakes, aqueducts, draw¬ 
bridges, temples and well-built houses of red 
stone or sun-dried bricks. The Aztecs had also 
achieved considerable skill in the manufacture of 
various articles. They wove cloth from cotton 















SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


147 


fiber, wrought ornaments from gold and silver, 
and fashioned dishes of pottery for ordinary use. 

For the con¬ 
quest of this na¬ 
tion no man was 
better fitted than 
Cortez. Bold, 
brave, dauntless, 
and with a zeal 
for conquest, Cor¬ 
tez never wavered 
in his purpose. 

When his army reached the capital city and 
launched an attack upon it, the alarmed Aztecs 
resisted bravely, but the belching cannons of the 
Spaniards were too much for them and their 
arrows were useless against the iron coats of the 
foe, who finally captured the city. Led by their 
intrepid chief, the Spaniards entered the town 
with the clashing of drums and cymbals, the clat¬ 
ter of hoofs and the clangor of arms. 

Many of the Indians were inclined to believe 
the coming of their white conquerors had been 
foretold. According to an ancient legend of their 
race, a certain Fair God, who had once been the 
chief in their company of gods, had been over¬ 
come by an evil power and banished from the 







148 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


land, his soul becoming the Morning Star. Ere 
he left, the Fair God promised to return at some 
future time with white-skinned followers to rule 
the land. The arrival of the Spaniards seemed 
to the superstitious 
Indians a fulfillment 
of the prophecy. 

After taking the 
city, Cortez assumed 
the role of conqueror, 
and compelled the 
king, Montezuma, to 
surrender. His rule 
proved very irksome 
to the Aztecs and he 
deeply offended them 
by placing images of 
Christian saints in 
the temples sacred to 
their idols. 

Seizing their opportunity during the absence 
of Cortez from the city, the Indians made a 
sudden attack upon the invaders. Cortez re¬ 
turned in the midst of the trouble and in an 
endeavor to quiet the Indians, he compelled 
Montezuma to appear before them and make a 
speech telling them that the Spaniards were his 







SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


149 


friends. Incensed at this and believing he had 
turned traitor, the unfortunate king’s infuriated 
subjects stoned him to death. 

A terrible battle ensued, in which the invaders 
were defeated and driven from the city. In spite 
of this defeat, Cortez did not despair. He again 
gathered his forces, attacked and retook not only 
the city, but the entire country and compelled the 
inhabitants to renounce both idolatry and canni¬ 
balism, to which they were addicted. 

In accomplishing this purpose Cortez was 
guilty of much cruelty to the Indians, and be¬ 
haved like an absolute conqueror. Indeed his 
actions offended the Spanish king so deeply that 
he sent orders to Mexico lessening his powers. 
Angry at the royal interference, Cortez left Mex¬ 
ico and went on an exploring expedition, dur¬ 
ing which he discovered Lower California. 
He finally wearied of the New World and re¬ 
turned to Spain, where he was treated with 
marked coldness by the king. Determined to 
force the recognition of royalty, Cortez thrust 
himself before the king during a parade. The 
haughty monarch, pretending that he did not 
know the intruder, asked w T lio he was. Cortez, 
as haughty as the king, replied, “ A man who has 
given you more provinces than your forefathers 


150 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


left you cities.” This great explorer and con¬ 
queror died at Seville in 1554. 

In 1528 another Spaniard, Panfilo de Narvaez, 
commanded an expedition of which Cabeza de 
Yaca was a member. Sailing from Spain, the 
company reached the inlet now known as Tampa 
Bay in Florida in 1528, and proceeded to explore 
the interior of the peninsula. They found it a 
vast wilderness with swampy everglades inhab¬ 
ited by an unfriendly tribe of Indians called 
Seminoles. This name means “wild men,” and 
indeed the Spaniards found them such. 

The story of the hardships of the explorers in 
this place is merely a repetition of the troubles 
of other unlucky gold chasers. Many of the party 
met death at the hands of the Indians, and others 
died of starvation. The few survivors struggled 
back to the coast and embarked on the waters of 
the Gulf of Mexico in frail boats. Upon nearing 
the mouth of the Mississippi, the boats were 
wrecked by the current of that mighty river, and 
the leader was drowned. The survivors were 
washed ashore where Be Yaca, who was too ill to 
travel, was abandoned by his companions. 

Reduced through sickness, starvation and ex¬ 
posure to a mere skeleton, De Yaca was captured 
by an Indian tribe and enslaved. For six years 


SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


151 



The First White Men to See the American Bison 


he endured untold suffering, when the tribe that 
held him obtained possession of three of his for¬ 
mer companions. Rej oiced at being reunited, the 
four captives planned to escape. This was not 
an easy matter but they finally managed it, only 
to fall into the hands of another tribe. 

Prom that time on their lives became merely 
a series of long, hard marches, first with one tribe 
and then with another. During one of their 
marches they crossed the great plains of Texas, 
over which roamed vast herds of buffaloes. Ca- 
beza de Yaca and his comrades were the first 
white men to lay eyes on those monarchs of the 
plains, which they called “hunchback cows.” 

It was fortunate for Cabeza and his friends 












152 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



that they were finally captured by a tribe whose 
members became imbued with the idea that they 
were magicians possessed of a strange power 
through which they could kill or cure, for this 
belief led the Indians to treat them respectfully 
and even kindly. Presents such as beans, pump¬ 
kins, blankets, hides, beads, corals, turquoises 
and emeralds were heaped upon them. But in 












SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


153 


spite of their honors they longed for their own 
kind, and were always on the watch for a sign of 
white men and civilization. 

One day they met an Indian who was the proud 
possessor of a sword-belt and a nail from a horse¬ 
shoe, tvhich he said he had obtained from men 
from heaven who rode on horses and had long 
beards like those of De Vaca and his companions. 
He indicated the direction the heavenly vis¬ 
itants had taken and the four set off on that road. 
After a long tramp in which they suffered the 
pangs of famine and were reduced to eating roots 
and the bark of trees, the escaped men overtook 
the Indian’s 6 4 angels,” and found to their joy 
that they were of their own original party. The 
troubles of the wanderers were now over and they 
finally made their way back to Spain. Cabeza de 
Vaca held the travel record of his times—he had 
tramped over three thousand miles. 

One of the greatest exploring expeditions in 
the New World was that commanded by Fran¬ 
cisco de Coronado. Enthused by accounts of the 
wonders seen by De Vaca in his tramp across the 
continent, and also by the stories of the wealthy 
cities in Mexico conquered by Cortez, Coronado 
planned to seek other rich provinces which he was 
sure must be in the new lands. Among the vague 


154 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Marcos Finds the Pueblos 


rumors was one of a group of Seven Golden 
Cities which were pictured as places of splendid 
temples and golden-roofed houses with jeweled 
doorways. The conquest of these cities seemed 
very desirable, and in 1539, a brave priest named 
Friar Marcos was sent by the government of 
Mexico to search for the cities. Now it chanced 
that the Zuni Indians of New Mexico did have a 
group of seven pueblo villages, one of which was 
called Cibola. After much travel over flinty hills 
and dazzling desert sands, where they endured 
















SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


155 


agonies of thirst, Marcos and a few companions 
neared the pueblos. Fearing to enter the vil¬ 
lages, they viewed them from a distance. 

In the transparent air of the region the pueblos 
seemed much larger than they really were. They 
were made of sun-dried clay and the roofs were 
decorated with rock crystals found in the moun¬ 
tains of that region. In the bright sunlight the 
cities seemed made of gold and encrusted with 
jewels. To the friar’s dazzled eyes they seemed 
lovely fairy cities. He hastened back with all 
speed to Mexico and reported his discovery. The 
excitement of the Spaniards was intense. Noth¬ 
ing was talked of but the treasure-filled Seven 
Cities of Cibola. 

At once a great expedition for the conquest of 
the place was fitted out and placed under the com¬ 
mand of Coronado. In gorgeous array, at the 
head of a company of Spanish nobles splendid 
in glittering armor, with plumed crests and 
golden spurs, Coronado advanced upon the vil¬ 
lages. Accompanying this band of haughty aris¬ 
tocrats were a number of negroes and Indians, 
half naked and armed only with bows and arrows. 

Francisco Coronado rode forth with all his train, 

Eight hundred savage bowmen, three hundred spears of 
Spain, 


156 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


To seek the rumored glory that pathless deserts hold— 

The seven famous cities whose walls are rich with gold. 

Coronado’s route lay in a northeasterly direc¬ 
tion through Mexico, following the coast region 
of the Gulf of California. With trumpet note 
and gay song the cavaliers journeyed into the 
yellow sands and rocky hills of Arizona and New 
Mexico, straight to the site of the Seven Cities. 
What bitter disappointment awaited the eager 
gold-seekers! They found the villages of their 
dreams to be merely Zuni pueblos. The gold was 
clay—the jewels were common stones! Such as 
they were, however, Coronado captured the 
“cities,” which made little resistance to his at¬ 
tacks. Then he sent out scouting parties to ex¬ 
plore the neighboring country. 

One of these parties came upon that amazing, 
magnificent spectacle, the Grand Canyon, “ where 
Colorado rushes down through God-hewn walls 
of stone. ’ ’ Awe-stricken, the men gazed upon the 
wonder. No golden city could have impressed 
them so deeply. They saw how the river, which 
in places was a raging torrent tumbling over 
rocky steeps, had cut a deep gorge which was 
more than a mile deep in some parts. Those 
mighty walls, colored in red, gray, yellow and 
brown, rose in a myriad fanciful shapes. The 


SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


157 


wasted faces of the rocks, shaped and carved by 
the changeful action of the water, took on many 
strange forms that made them look like turreted 
castles, bulky towers and lofty pinnacles. The 
explorers found the country around the canyon 
to be a barren land with little but sage brush and 
cactus growing on it. 

Coronado renewed his march and in an Indian 
village where he housed his company (unin¬ 
vited) for the winter, he heard of still another 
‘ 4 golden city.” This was called Quivera, and if 
the tales told of it were true, it far outshone the 
fabled splendors of the Seven Cities of Cibola. 

The fortunate ruler of Quivera, it was ru¬ 
mored, ate from vessels of pure gold, slept in a 
golden bed, and was lulled to sleep by golden 
bells. The greedy Spaniards were easily deceived 
by this tale and at once set out after the new 
golden will-o ’-the-wisp. During a difficult march 
of seventy-seven days they passed through great 
plains where they saw countless “ crooked-backed 
oxen,” as they called the buffaloes, peacefully 
grazing, and a whole community of alert little 
prairie-dog ‘‘ mound-builders. ’ ’ At last the weary 
gold-seekers sighted a city in the distance. Their 
spirits rose and they joyously spurred their 
horses. Alas! when they came near, they sadly 


158 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


drew rein. For another bitter disappointment 
awaited them. They saw no fairy city with pin¬ 
nacles of gold. There was no golden palace, no 

jeweled spire. 
Nothing was 
golden. All that 
met their gaze 
was a squalid 
Indian village 
made up of com- 
mon tents of 
buffalo skin. 

Disgusted 
with this rude 
awakening from 
their dreams of 
a fine, rich city, 
Coronado and 
his companions 
set out for 
home. The re¬ 
turn trip took 
them about a year, during which time they 
endured frightful hardships. Fever, drought, 
toil and battle with savage tribes played havoc 
with their numbers. At last, a gaunt, starving, 
ragged remnant of the gay company that had set 







SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


159 


out so joyously returned to the settlement where 
they reported their failure. 

Coronado also gave it out as his opinion that 
the whole western country was valueless for set¬ 
tlement. Could he have seen a moving picture of 
the future and there had flashed before him the 
great corn fields, the endless cultivated farms, the 
teeming cities, and the extremely rich silver and 
copper mines of this region, what would he have 
thought! 

The Spanish gold-seekers seemed never to 
weary of chasing the yellow firefly, even when it 
only led them to disaster and death. 

Gold, gold, gold, gold, 

Heavy to get and light to hold! 

These lines might well have been their song. 
While Coronado was toilsomely seeking it in the 
west, another Spaniard, Hernando de Soto, was 
trudging after it through the eastern part of the 
country. He Soto, a dark, swarthy man, belonged 
to the nobility. Early in his career, having heard 
of masses of virgin gold and jewels in the New 
World, he embarked for that goal, seeking fame 
and fortune. 

After some years of service and adventure, De 
Soto became governor of Cuba. The air was per- 


160 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


meated with fanciful stories of gold and treasure, 
the most extravagant probably being that of El 
Dorado, which means 4 4 The Gilded. ’ 9 According 
to the story, there was located in the vague prov¬ 
ince of 44 Somewhere,” a land so rich in gold that 
the ruler daily had a shower bath of gold dust. 
This ruler, is was rumored, dwelt on the border of 
a sacred lake. To please the goddess of the lake 
offerings of jewels were flung into it, and then the 
gilded man bathed in the waters and washed off 
the gold dust. 

A chief there was, who, stripped of vesture, 

Covered with golden dust from top to toe, 

Sailed with offerings to the gods upon a lake, 

Borne by the waves upon a fragile raft, 

The dark flood to brighten with golden light. 

Wishing to find this famous monarch and im¬ 
agining that the favored region must be in Flor¬ 
ida, De Soto set forth for that country. He was a 
popular leader and over a thousand men-at-arms 
followed his fortunes. The expedition was a 
splendid one, and the steel-clad Spaniards with 
their gay banners and golden crucifixes were an 
imposing sight. In the company were six hun¬ 
dred nobles mounted on fine horses, twenty-four 
black-robed priests, a drove of hogs and a pack 
of fierce bloodhounds. 


SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


161 


Upon landing with this array in Florida, De 
Soto sent his ships back to Cuba and then began 
his toilsome march through fevered marshes to 
the interior. He soon found that this was not El 
Dorado, but simply a dense, tropical wilderness 
choked with underbrush through which he had 
to force his way. After some months of explora¬ 
tion in Florida, he made his way into the region 
now occupied by Georgia, South Carolina, Ala¬ 
bama and Tennessee. 

After journeying thus for over three hundred 
miles the men’s hopes of finding gold gave out 
and they begged to be taken back to Cuba. But 
De Soto refused their request and insisted that 
they should march on. So on they toiled through 
more miles of treacherous swamps, tropical for¬ 
ests, and over endless flower-dotted prairies. 
They had many adventures with the Indians, 
some of whom were as ferocious as rabid dogs and 
fought with a courage that put even the reckless 
Spaniards to shame. 

De Soto was very cruel to the Indians whom he 
captured, chaining them in gangs and forcing 
them to serve as pack mules to carry the baggage 
of his party. An Indian who refused to do this 
was severely beaten or torn to pieces by the blood¬ 
hounds. The wretched creatures learned to fear 


162 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



and hate the very name of De Soto, who com¬ 
pelled them to call him “the Child of the Sun,” 
for he claimed to be of divine origin. 

One chief at least refused to do him homage. 
The Spaniard, sick and in need of supplies, sent 
an invitation to this chief to visit “the Child of 
the Sun” and to feel at liberty to fetch a present 
with him. The chief declined the honor, sending 
word that it was not his custom to bestow pres¬ 
ents and suggesting that De Soto dry up the riv¬ 
ers as a proof of his solar origin. 

Learning of a great river to the west, De Soto 
pressed on by a zigzag route in that direction. 


















SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


163 


On May 8,1541, near the present site of Memphis, 
over two years since his landing at Tampa, he 
sighted the waters of the great Mississippi, which 
at that time was a mighty flood fully a mile and 
a half wide. De Soto gazed at the “ Father of 
Waters,’’ as the Indians called the river, as fas¬ 
cinated as was Balboa at sight of the Pacific. 
Although De Soto and his men were the first 
white men to gaze upon the main body of the 
stream, they were not the first Europeans to have 
touched at its waters. That distinction belongs 
to Alvarez de Pineda, who discovered the mouth 
of the great river and called it the “ River of the 
Holy Ghost.” 

Hoping to find the gold of their dreams on the 
other side of the river, the Spaniards built a num¬ 
ber of rude barges and crossed over. This was 
the first fleet on the muddy waters of the Missis¬ 
sippi. Could those men have had a vision of the 
mighty steamers of to-day plowing those waters, 
how impossible the scene would have seemed to 
them! 

Once across the stream the adventurers pur¬ 
sued their explorations in what is now the state 
of Arkansas. Finding nothing but fever, famine 
and hostile Indians, they toiled on farther to 
the south. At the point where the Red River 


164 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


joins the Mississippi, De Soto, heart-broken at 
his failure to find the coveted gold of his search, 
sickened and died. His death brought great 
alarm to the hearts of his men, for the savage 
tribes of the wilderness had been held in subjec¬ 
tion only through fear of De Soto, who had per¬ 
suaded them he was immortal. 

Hoping to deceive the Indians into believing 
their master still alive, De Soto’s companions cut 
down and hollowed out a big oak tree, in which 
they placed the body. Weighting this rude coffin 
with heavy sand bags, they carried it to the mid¬ 
dle of the stream and lowered it into the waters. 
The next day his successor as chief sold De Soto’s 
belongings at auction. Four slaves, two male 
and two female, five horses and seven hundred 
hogs made up his estate. 

The disheartened survivors decided it would be 
folly to pursue their explorations any further, so 
they fashioned rude barges in which they floated 
down the Mississippi to the Gulf, over which they 
made their way to a Spanish settlement in Mex¬ 
ico. They had been gone over four years and 
scarcely half of them returned. 

In spite of their failure to find gold, however, 
the expedition was a very important one in his¬ 
tory. Because of it the claims of Spain to a vast 


SPANISH EXPLORATIONS 


165 


area in the interior were established. More¬ 
over, after the expeditions of Coronado and De 
Soto, the Spaniards were persuaded there were 
no wealthy cities in the interior and they began 
to think more of settling down in permanent 
homes than of further rovings. 

According to Spanish law all the land in the 
New World discovered and explored by Span¬ 
iards belonged to the king, who gave large tracts 
of it to favored officers. These tracts, or farms, 
worked by Indian slaves, proved a source of 
greater wealth to their owners than did their ex¬ 
peditions in search of golden cities. 


CHAPTER XIII 

EARLY SPANISH SETTLEMENTS AND 
MISSIONS IN AMERICA 

T HE chief settlements made by the Spanish in 
the New World were in the West Indies and 
Mexico. They were diverted from the United 
States by the failures of Coronado and De Soto 
to discover rich cities or easy gold in that region. 
However, in 1565, they learned that the French 
had attempted to found a colony on the St. John 
river in Florida, which was a Spanish claim be¬ 
cause of Ponce de Leon’s explorations. An expe¬ 
dition was sent out under Pedro Menendez to 
destroy the French settlement. Menendez ar¬ 
rived and built a fort on the coast, naming it St. 
Augustine. From this fort he marched his force 
to the French settlement and destroyed it. St. 
Augustine continued as a fort and was thus 
the oldest permanent settlement in the New 
World. 

Civilized Europeans introduced the idea of In¬ 
dian slavery. Columbus, unable to supply the 
gold that the greed of the Spaniards demanded, 
took captive savage cannibal Indians and sent 
166 


EARLY SPANISH SETTLEMENTS 


167 


them to Spain to be used as slaves. He hoped to 
have these savages converted and returned to 

Hispaniola, as 
the island of 
Haiti was then 
called, to be¬ 
come mission¬ 
aries among 
their own 
tribes. Ferdi¬ 
nand and Isa¬ 
bella, however, 
refused to per- 
mit slavery in 
Spain, but it 
became estab- 
lished in the 
West Indies. 
On the Indian 
subjects there 
Columbus im¬ 
posed a tax of a 
bit of gold or a ball of cotton, to be paid four 
times a year. Those who could not pay had to 
give an equal value in labor. This resulted in 
slave agricultural labor. The tax was not op¬ 
pressive to the Indians, but when minerals be- 
















168 STEER FOR NEW SHORES 

gan to be discovered and they were forced to 
work in the mines, they drooped and died. 

The slaves were treated much as Roman slaves 
in ancient times. It was cheaper to work a slave 
to death than to care for him. Slaves that re¬ 
belled were tortured or burned at the stake. Cer¬ 
tain priests tried to have the treatment of the 
slaves humanized. Among these was Las Casas, 
called the “Apostle of the Indians.’’ In 1514 Las 
Casas was a missionary in Cuba. He had held 
slaves himself, always treating them kindly. Be¬ 
coming convinced, however, that no matter how 
kindly a slave was treated, enforced labor was a 
curse and a wrong, he freed his own slaves and 
began to preach abolition. 

The settlers objected to this action. To them 
the Indians were merely beasts of burden and 
they called Las Casas a “droll fool” because of 
his views. Then the priest made a blunder. He 
proposed introducing negro slavery instead of 
Indian, deeming it a lesser evil. This marked the 
beginning of negro slavery in America. 

Hoping to prove that the gospel of good will 
would win and civilize the Indians, Las Casas 
fearlessly took up his own abode with a certain 
fierce tribe of idol worshipers. He composed a 
sacred poem explaining the Christian faith. 


EARLY SPANISH SETTLEMENTS 


169 


While trading with the savages, he taught them 
the poem. The settlement of this cannibal tribe 
was called the Land of War, because of the con¬ 
stant fighting carried on in it. Thanks to the 
missionary efforts of Las Casas, the Land of War 
was transformed to the Land of Peace. In the 
little mission which he established, the good 
priest made numerous converts. 

After many years of usefulness he died at the 
age of ninety-two. He wrote a history of the In¬ 
dians, but the work lay in manuscript for three 
hundred years. No one dared to publish it, for 
it exposed the awful conditions that existed in 
the settlements. The book was finally printed in 
1875. 

After the time of Las Casas many other Span¬ 
ish missions were established among the Indians. 
These missions, organized like little villages, 
were under the charge of priests who taught 
trades, language and religion to the natives, 
nursed the sick, and preached the gospel. 
Through the efforts of these noble workers, the 
social conditions of the Indians were much im¬ 
proved. 

The ideas held by any nation become the rul¬ 
ing ideas of colonies of that nation. In spite 
of the noble work of the missionaries, Spanish 


170 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



ideas of life were not desirable for the New 
World. At the time of the discovery of America, 
the government of Spain was a despotic mon¬ 
archy in which the king dictated the laws, religion 
and education of the land. The colonists had no 
part in making laws for themselves nor in choos¬ 
ing officers. All laws were made in Spain and all 
officers were appointed by the Crown. A system 
was established in which the king made grants of 
land to certain individuals, who in this way be¬ 
came lords of the land and forced the Indians to 
work for them. Hard labor, filthy quarters and 
cruelty from brutal overseers became the lot of 
the Indian under this system. 

The Spaniards were naturally opposed to labor 
for themselves—they were eager to achieve sud- 







EARLY SPANISH SETTLEMENTS 


171 


den wealth without toil. They were after easy 
money and the wealth they pilfered from the In¬ 
dians made them lazy. They chose the southern, 
nature-favored lands for their settlements, where 
they could grow rich without having to force Na¬ 
ture ’s hand. Seeking rich cities where they might 
gain wealth without labor led them to great dis¬ 
coveries and explorations. This gave them wide 
claims in the New World. Their claims embraced 
most of South America, all of Central America, 
Texas, Mexico, California New Mexico, Arizona, 
Colorado and Florida. 

The lords to whom large grants of land were 
given ruled for the king. They were called 
viceroys and often severely oppressed the poorer 
colonists, as well as the Indians, in order to get 
wealth. In these colonies education was limited, 
as there were no free schools. The chief educa¬ 
tional institutions were church schools, where 
religion was the principal subject of instruction, 
although the elements of reading, writing and 
figuring were taught. The greater number of the 
pupils were Indians, the whites being too much 
occupied with dances, games, bullfights and cock¬ 
fights to care for education. 

The Catholic religion was established by the 
state. All those who did not accept that form 


172 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


of faith were persecuted or exiled. This pre¬ 
vented freedom of religious thought and led to 
religious quarrels. All these things prevented 
growth and finally led to the loss of Spanish 
power in America. For the failure of Spain to 
hold her claims we must he grateful. It would 
have been unfortunate for the United States had 
Spanish ideals persisted in the New World. 

But while this is true we must not fail to ad¬ 
mire and honor the courage and boldness of the 
early Spanish heroes who led the way across the 
Sea of Darkness to what became the “land of the 
free and the home of the brave.’’ 


CHAPTER XIV 

FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 

I T seemed for a number of years as though the 
rights of Spain in the New World would be 
undisputed by the other nations of Europe which, 
for a long time, made no effort to obtain posses¬ 
sions there. In 1524, however, Francis I, King 
of France, aroused by tales of fabulous wealth ob¬ 
tained by Cortez in Mexico, and moved by a 
desire to gain similar treasure, decided to dis¬ 
patch soldiers of fortune to the new lands. It was 
pointed out to Francis that such an expedition 
would be an infringement on the rights of Spain 
and Portugal, between whom the New World had 
been divided by the pope, who, in 1494, had estab¬ 
lished the Line of Demarcation, giving all lands 
east of it to Portugal and all west of it to Spain. 

The French monarch laughingly refused to ac¬ 
knowledge the authority of the churchman in this 
matter. 

“Show me where is the will of Father Adam,” 
he said, “that gives the world to Spain and 
Portugal and shuts out France, and I will agree. ’ ’ 
The will in question could not be produced, and 
173 


174 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


the king, feeling free to do so, fitted out an ex¬ 
pedition for a certain bold seaman named Gio¬ 
vanni da Yerrazano, a native of Florence serv¬ 
ing under the lilies of France. Yerrazano crossed 
to the new lands and explored the Atlantic coast 
from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia. He called 
the region New France, and, being a pious sailor, 
he erected crosses at various landings. 

In a letter to the king he described the coast. 
He was particularly pleased with the appearance 
of Rhode Island. Having often cruised about the 
Mediterranean Sea, he knew well the beautiful 
Grecian Isle of Rhodes, flowered with roses and 
musical with birds. When he saw the region we 
now call Rhode Island, it was the summer season 
and the place reminded him of the Grecian Isle. 
Because of this resemblance he called the spot 
Rhode Island, which name it has borne ever since. 
A poet tells of this incident in these lines: 

From the palm land’s shade to the land of pines 
The Florentine crossed the Western Sea; 

He sought new lands and golden mines, 

And he sailed ’neath the flag of the Fleur-de-Lis. 


’Twas summer time and the glad birds sung 
In the hush of noon in the solitudes, 

From the oak’s broad arms the green vines hung; 
Sweet odors blew from the resinous woods. 



FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 175 


To the isle of the west he gave the name 
Of the isle he loved in the Grecian Sea, 

And the Florentine went away as he came, 

’Neath the silver flag of the Fleur-de-Lis. 

The voyage of Verrazano formed a very slight 
claim to the At¬ 
lantic coast region, 
and France did not 
follow it up, choos¬ 
ing rather to ex¬ 
plore other regions 
more suited to 
trade with the In¬ 
dians. 

In 1534, ten 
years after the 
Verrazano voyage, 

Jacques Cartier, a 
French navigator, 
commanded an ex¬ 
pedition to Amer¬ 
ica. He arrived at 
Newfoundland, and found it a dreary region. 
Although it was May, winter still roared in the 
pines, and the wild sea birds screamed shrilly. In 
his own words he describes the scene thus: “I 
found nothing but frightful rocks and barren 







176 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


lands inhabited by men, well made, who wore 
their hair tied on the top of the head like a bundle 
of hay, with bird’s feathers stuck in.” These men 
were, of course, the Indians of the region. 

After cruising among the islands for a time, 
Cartier passed through the Strait of Belle Isle 
into a gulf which he named St. Lawrence, in 
honor of the saint of this name. After landing on 
the shores he planted the banner with the lilies 
of France and took possession of the land for the 
king. He gave the territory the name Canada 
from an Indian word Kannatha, meaning village. 

The object of Cartier’s expedition was to find a 
short route to the Spice Islands. Failing in this 
but recognizing the possibility of wealth through 
fur trading, he returned to France to report his 
trip. He visited the Hew World afterward with 
the intention of establishing trading posts. 

Upon his second venture he guided his vessels 
over the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the majestic 
river flowing into it. To the river he gave the 
same name as to the gulf. As he ascended the 
river he was much impressed with the magnifi¬ 
cent scenery. The river flowed through a deep 
picturesque gorge lined with rugged, towering 
cliffs and dense woods, where the branches of the 
trees were heavily weighted with grapevines. 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 177 


All along the route, wherever he landed, there 
assembled companies of amazed Indians. In one 
small village the natives, clad in gala dress, came 
from their tents and greeted the visitors with 
shouts and songs and dances. Thinking the white 
men beings from celestial regions and endowed 
with miraculous powers, the simple-minded crea¬ 
tures brought out their sick, maimed, halt and 
blind, imploring the strangers to exert their di¬ 
vine powers in behalf of the afflicted. 

Cartier, knowing himself and his companions 
powerless to do this, compromised the matter by 
religious services and further delighted the sav¬ 
ages by gifts of beads, toys and trinkets. 

Behind this village there rose a lofty moun¬ 
tain which commanded a glorious view of the sur¬ 
rounding country. Cartier, impressed with the 
grandeur of the scenery, named the elevation 
Royal Mountain, which name later became 
Montreal. 

Cartier was deeply religious. Burning to show 
the heathen tribes the pathway to God, he made 
many efforts to convert them. Through his con¬ 
verts he heard vague rumors of another great 
river which flowed southward. This, of course, 
was the Mississippi, soon to be discovered by 
De Soto. 


178 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


After spending the winter in the neighborhood 
of Montreal, Cartier returned to France. He 
made a third trip later on, and tried to found a 
colony at the site of Quebec, hut it proved a fail¬ 
ure. Through his voyages and explorations, 
France claimed all the vast territory drained by 
the St. Lawrence River. To this region the name 
of New France was transferred from the coast 
region so named by Verrazano. For his services, 
which gave France this land, Cartier was en¬ 
nobled by the king. 

For fifty years after the voyages of Cartier, 
France, being much occupied with religious wars, 
made no special attempts to further the explora¬ 
tion of the region discovered by him. During this 
half century, however, a brisk trade in furs and 
fish was carried on with the Indians. A number 
of persons were getting rich through this trade, 
for the Indians gladly exchanged valuable furs 
for cheap, gaudy trinkets. 

The next French exploring adventure to the 
New World was undertaken by Samuel Cham¬ 
plain, a cultivated, refined gentleman with the 
manners of a knight of chivalry. He was glad to 
undertake an expedition to New France, for, be¬ 
lieving in the northwest passage to India, and 
having yearnings for marvelous Cathay, he 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 179 

meant to investigate the possibilities of reaching 
that desired goal. He had two more immediate 
aims, however. One of these was the spread of 
the Catholic faith and the other was the extension 
of French power in the great New World. 

To aid in accomplishing these designs, he at¬ 
tempted a settlement in Acadia, at Port Royal, 
near where the Bay of Fundy dashes its high 
tempestuous tides. The colonists of this settle¬ 
ment led a life of extreme hardship. Food be¬ 
came scarce and to encourage the men to hunt and 
fish, a society known as the ‘ ‘ Order of Mirth ’ ’ was 
organized. Each day a member was appointed to 
take charge of affairs. It was the duty of this of¬ 
ficer, the Grand Master, as he was called, to 
serve meat at the dinner, no matter how he got it. 
When the dinner hour arrived, a horn was 
sounded and all filed in to the table. During the 
meal there was much hilarity. The diners laughed 
and sang, joked and ate, of course. At the close 
of the feast the Grand Master passed the badge 
of office to another member who would serve on 
the following day. In recognition of his services 
at this colony, Champlain was appointed Gov¬ 
ernor of all New France. 

The first permanent French settlement made 
by Champlain was at Quebec on a rocky promon- 


180 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


tory on the left bank of the St. Lawrence river at 
a place called “the Narrows.” An ardent mis¬ 
sionary, Champlain set the conversion of the 
heathen Indians above the gains of conquest, 
writing in his journal, “The salvation of a single 
soul is worth more than the conquest of a 
nation.” 

The black-robed, black-cowled Jesuit priests 
were his able assistants in his missionary work, 
which was not always successful. One Indian at 
least refused to repeat in the Lord’s Prayer the 
words, “Give us this day our daily bread,” his 
reason being that he feared if he asked for bread 
alone he would get no moose meat. 

Champlain’s nearest Indian neighbors were 
the Algonquins, with whom he established a firm 
friendship. These Indians were sworn enemies 
of the Iroquois tribe, called often “the Five Na¬ 
tions,” being five united tribes whose hunting 
grounds were in New York south of Lake On¬ 
tario. Finding the Algonquins at war with the 
Iroquois, Champlain joined them in an attack on 
their foes. 

To reach their point of attack the company 
silently paddled their canoes up the St. Lawrence 
to the mouth of the Richelieu river and thence 
to the lake now named Champlain, in honor of the 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 181 


first white man who ever gazed upon that beauti¬ 
ful body of water, picturesquely nestled amid 
woods of dark hemlocks and pines, with the lofty 
Green Mountains on the west, and the Adiron- 
dacks on the east. Here the conflict took place. 
Champlain, clad in full armor, led the charge, 
firing his gun at the frightened Iroquois. Amazed 
at the report, the first they had ever heard, they 
fled in confusion, followed by the Algonquins, 
whose war whoops were loud enough to drown out 
thunder. 

The assistance of the French was the factor 
that gained the victory for the Algonquins, but 
it also insured for the French allies the everlast¬ 
ing hatred of the Iroquois, who never forgot nor 
forgave their defeat. Champlain, who earned the 
title, “The Father of New France,” governed 
that territory for twenty-seven years and finally 
died, full of years and honors, in the country he 
had learned to love. 

Now that they had possession of the St. Law¬ 
rence waterway in the northeast, the French be¬ 
came possessed of a great ambition to gain con¬ 
trol of the Mississippi waterway in the central 
part of the country. Their success in accomplish¬ 
ing this was due largely to the zeal of the Jesuit 
missionaries. Eager to convert the Indians and 


182 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 



Marquette and Joliet Leaving for the Exploration of the 
Mississippi 


enroll them in the Catholic fold, these men braved 
many dangers and ventured into the very jaws of 
death. The most famous of the missionaries was 
Father Marquette, who, in company with Joliet, 
a fur trader, was sent out by Frontenac, the gov¬ 
ernor of Canada, to investigate the Mississippi 
valley. 

The two explorers met for their mission at 
Point St. Ignace, on the Strait of Mackinac, in 
northern Michigan. Father Marquette, a devout, 












FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 183 

noble soul who earnestly desired the conversion 
of the Indians, had established a trading post and 
mission house at St. Ignace. To this post the 
Indians, lured by hatchets, knives, beads and gay 
cloth, came to trade and remained to be con¬ 
verted. 

In the merry month of May, 1673, the mission¬ 
ary, accompanied by Joliet, the fur trader, and 
five other companions, set out in canoes to seek 
the great central river. In their birch-bark canoes 
they paddled vigorously over Lake Michigan to 
Green Bay and the Fox River. At this point they 
went overland by portage to the Wisconsin River, 
where they again resorted to their canoes. 

This was a toilsome journey and the explorers 
endured many hardships while making it. 
Friendly Indians warned them against taking it, 
telling them fearful tales of rocks and whirlpools 
to be encountered; of ferocious tribes ready to 
slay them, and of demons and monsters that dwelt 
in the rivers and devoured men and canoes alike. 
But all undismayed, the explorers pushed on. 

Down the Wisconsin they drifted, and early in 
June arrived at the Mississippi. They were as 
amazed at the mighty flood as De Soto, its discov¬ 
erer, had been over a hundred years before. Hop¬ 
ing to follow the great river to its mouth, they 


184 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


paddled southward past the mouths of the Mis¬ 
souri and the Ohio, the “Beautiful River,” to the 
mouth of the Arkansas. With intense interest 
they noted the varying scenery, the abrupt cliffs, 
the dense thickets, and the spreading prairies 
over which thousands of buffaloes roamed un¬ 
restricted. 

Occasionally the explorers landed and were 
generally well treated by the natives. One very 
friendly chief gave a banquet in their honor at 
which he served porridge, bear oil, fish and dog 
meat. After the feast the chief rubbed his guests’ 
feet with bear grease and smoked the peace pipe 
with them. His welcome to them was put into 
verse afterward by the poet Longfellow, as Hia¬ 
watha ’s greeting to white travelers: 

Beautiful is the sun, 0 strangers, 

When you come so far to visit us; 

All our town in peace awaits you, 

All our doors stand open for you; 

You shall enter all our wigwams, 

For the heart’s right hand we give you. 


Having followed the mighty river as far as 
the mouth of the Arkansas, the travelers, 
anxious to report their j ourney, decided to return 
to Mackinac, being convinced that the river’s 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 185 


course led to the Gulf of Mexico. Knowing the 
return trip against the current of the river would 
be very difficult, they rowed back only as far as 
the mouth of the Illinois, which they followed to 
its source. From this point they employed In¬ 
dians to carry their canoes to Lake Michigan. 
Once on the lake they knew they would eventually 
reach their destination. 

Upon arriving at Green Bay, Father Mar¬ 
quette, being ill and unable to pursue the journey 
with the others, remained behind. On his recov¬ 
ery he decided to found another mission in the 
wilderness. He labored long and faithfully with 
his savage neighbors and greatly endeared him¬ 
self to them. When he died in their midst, their 
sorrow knew no bounds. 

The great missionary was buried in a grave be¬ 
side his hut, but his body did not rest there, for 
at a later date it was dug up and transported 
with an escort of Indians to St. Ignace, where an 
impressive funeral was held, which was attended 
by priests, traders and natives. The body was 
placed under the floor of his own little mission 
house, where he had so often preached eloquently 
to the wondering savages. 

Ever since the knowledge that America was a 


186 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


continent dawned upon Europe, the main object 
of most explorers was to find a passage through 
it to China. This desire lured the greatest of the 
early French explorers to the New World. This 
man was Robert Cavalier, called generally La 
Salle, after his family estate which bore that 
name. La Salle, proud and brilliant, was edu¬ 
cated for the Jesuit priesthood, but as the regula¬ 
tions of the order were too strict for his restless 
spirit, he gave up the priestly calling for that 
of trader and explorer in the French possessions 
in the New World. 

Arriving in Canada his first move was to learn 
the Indian languages in order that he might talk 
easily with the tribes. In the neighborhood 
of Montreal he built a fort which he called La 
Chine, thinking he was near China. Hearing 
from the Indians tales of a great river which they 
called the Ohio, La Salle determined to visit it. 
Accordingly he crossed Lake Erie and thence to 
the Alleghany River, which he followed to its 
junction with the Monongahela, forming the 
Ohio. Charmed with the beauty of the stream, he 
explored it as far as the present site of Louisville, 
claiming the valley for the French. 

Some time after his return to Montreal, he 
learned of the explorations of Marquette and 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 187 

Joliet along the Mississippi River. Desiring like 
all explorers of his times to get to China, and be¬ 
ing ignorant of the true geography of the west, 
he became impressed with the idea that the 
Mississippi led to the “ Vermilion Sea,” which is 
the Gulf of California. If this opinion were 
true, the passage to China was assured. He de¬ 
termined to make the venture. 

In 1678 he set out from the Niagara River just 
above the Falls, in a boat known as the Griffin 
from the figure ornamenting its prow. The Grif¬ 
fin, launched to the salute of guns, was the first 
vessel to sail the waters of the Great Lakes. From 
Lake Erie to Huron and Michigan it plowed its 
way. On the Michigan shores the boat was loaded 
with furs exchanged by the Indians for the usual 
cheap trinkets. Thus cargoed, it was sent back 
to Canada. After waiting a long time for the re¬ 
turn of the ship which was to bring food and 
ammunition for the party, La Salle decided to 
pursue his journey. What became of the ship was 
a mystery. As it never reached its destination, it 
was probably swallowed up in the waters of the 
lake during a storm. 

La Salle finally reached the banks of the Illi¬ 
nois River, where he erected a fort called 
Crevecceur, or Heartbreak, in memory of the 


188 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


sufferings endured at the place. Hoping for news 
of his ship, the Griffin, and anxious to obtain sup¬ 
plies for his colony at Crevecceur, La Salle and 
five companions toiled back to Montreal in 1680. 

The journey was a terrible one of a thousand 
miles through great wildernesses of primeval for¬ 
ests, vast marshes and appalling snowdrifts. The 
wayfarers reached their goal, however. Loaded 
with supplies, they made their way back to the 
fort only to find it in ruins. It had been destroyed 
in their absence by mutinous members of the 
colony. 

The destruction of his fort was a bitter disap¬ 
pointment to La Salle. Undaunted, however, by 
this misfortune, and still determined to solve the 
mystery of the course of the Mississippi, the in¬ 
trepid Frenchman, accompanied by a few fol¬ 
lowers, set out again in 1681, on his third venture. 
From the lower levels of Lake Michigan near 
where Chicago now stands, he was compelled to 
have the canoes in which the trip was made 
dragged to the Illinois River over the icy ground, 
through the woods where the snow was piled 
knee-deep. 

It was bitterly cold, the wintry tempest roared 
like the whizzing of a thousand flying shells, and 
the river was full of floating ice which impeded 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 189 


the progress of the canoes. But the party pushed 
on and finally reached the Mississippi. Drifting 
downstream with the current, they arrived in 
nine-weeks’ time at the mouth of the mighty 
river, where they found a land of sunshine and 
flowers. Disembarking, the happy explorers, with 
impressive ceremonies, took possession in the 
name of the King of France, of all the land 
drained by the Mississippi and all its tributaries. 
To this vast region, which reached from the Alle- 
ghanies on the east to the Rockies on the west, 
and from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, he 
gave the name of Louisiana, in honor of the King, 
Louis XIY. 

In accordance with the religious customs of the 
times, a cross was erected as a sign of the inten¬ 
tion to spread the Christian faith in that region. 
On a post beside the cross, La Salle nailed a shield 
decorated with the fleur-de-lis, the arms of 
France. A volley of musketry, ringing cheers and 
loud cries of “Vive le Roi!” completed the cere¬ 
monies. 

In order to make the French claim to the terri¬ 
tory good, it was necessary to erect forts at cer¬ 
tain places. To obtain the means necessary for 
this work La Salle returned to France. On his 
trip back over the Gulf of Mexico he missed the 


190 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


mouth of the Mississippi, and landed in Texas. 
Here he had trouble with, his men and in a quar¬ 
rel was shot by one of them and killed. So died 
La Salle, the greatest of the French explorers 
who had cherished dreams of making France the 
ruling nation in the world and the mistress of 
America. 

The claims of France to lands in America, em¬ 
bracing as they did the vast Mississippi valley 
and that of the St. Lawrence, gave her command 
of the two great waterways of the continent and 
the opportunity of establishing a vast empire in 
the new lands. This, however, she failed to do. In 
their first ventures in the New World, the chief 
motives of the French were to gain control of the 
fur trade and to convert the Indians to the Catho¬ 
lic faith. To these aims was added that of build¬ 
ing up a great French Empire in the new posses¬ 
sions, as an understanding of the vast extent of 
the continent became known. A land of tre¬ 
mendous forests, wide prairies, mighty rivers, 
lofty mountains and great inland fresh water 
seas, was a desirable prize. 

The fur trade was one barrier to achieving this 
empire. The very nature of the business required 
that the forests be undisturbed, and the clearing 
and settling of land that progress demands was 


FRENCH ADVENTURERS IN AMERICA 191 

neglected. The French traders were satisfied 
with the gold the fur trade yielded them. They 
made settlements, to be sure, but these were all 
governed by the laws of the French government 
which was at that time an absolute autocracy. 

Like Spain, France was ruled by the king, and 
for the king, and so were the French possessions 
in the New World. The highest officer in the new 
provinces was a governor appointed by the king 
to see that large revenues reached the Mother 
Country. All the laws were made in France; the 
settlers had no town meetings and no voice in the 
government. There were no public schools and in 
the church schools religion was the chief subject 
taught. These ideas and the conditions growing 
out of them would have taken deep root in Amer¬ 
ica and would have been hard to change had the 
French succeeded in holding their vast claims in 
the New World. But they were not destined to 
do so. In later years a war with England re¬ 
sulted in the overthrow of French power in 
America, while a revolution in France itself set 
that country among the free nations of the world. 


CHAPTER XV 

ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW 
WORLD 

A LTHOUGH by right of the discoveries of 
the Cabots, England laid claim to consider¬ 
able land along the eastern coast of the New 
World, the English rulers did not press their 
rights for a number of years. This delay was 
partly out of respect for the decree of the pope, 
who, as we have seen, established the Line of De- 
markation, dividing the world from pole to pole 
between Spain and Portugal. Then during these 
times the nation was torn by religious dissen¬ 
sion ; moreover England feared the naval power 
of Spain. That country was then the most power¬ 
ful nation of Europe. 

It was not until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, 
in the sixteenth century, that England began to 
venture into the New World. Many of her sub¬ 
jects still believed that the passage to India could 
be gained through the continent, and many were 
eager for a share in the wealth of that region, 
which had been claimed by Portugal ever 
since the Da Gama expedition. The more ven- 
192 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 193 

turesome began to think of pressing the English 
claims. 

In 1576, Sir Martin Frobisher, and a little later, 
Captain John 
Davis, visited the 
coast of Labrador. 

Frobisher took 
back with him to 
England a cargo of 
common stones, 
thinking, because 
of certain streaks 
in them, that they 
were gold ore. In 
England rumor 
rapidly spread the 
news that Frob¬ 
isher had found 
the long lost mines 
of King Solomon. 

But alas! an assay of the stones proved their 
utter worthlessness. They were only fool’s gold. 
The expedition of Davis was as unproductive. 
We find as mementoes of the trips of these men, 
the names of Frobisher’s Bay and Davis Strait 
on the maps of North America. 

These failures did not discourage further ven- 





194 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


tures, and in 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert, obtain¬ 
ing a charter from Queen Elizabeth entitling him 
to ownership of lands he might discover, led an 
expedition to New Eoundland, of which he took 
possession. When he decided to return home he 
himself took passage in the smaller of his two 
vessels. This craft was called The Squirrel. 
Overtaken by a terrific storm the tiny vessel 
tossed helplessly in the heavy sea. The brave 
mariner was undismayed. 

Beside the helm he sat, 

The Book was in his hand— 

“Now feel no fear, 

Heaven is as near, ’ ’ 

He said, “by water, as by land.” 

That very night his little craft was swallowed 
up in the black abyss of the sea. 

Queen Elizabeth’s reign was made notable by 
many important and interesting persons and 
events. One of the most famous persons was 
Erancis Drake, a bold buccaneer. Drake’s child¬ 
hood was picturesque, for he was one of twelve 
children who lived with their parents in the hull 
of an old vessel off the shores of Kent. At an 
early age the future pirate evinced a great fond¬ 
ness for adventure. When he became a man he 
had an abundance of it. 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 195 

At that time Spain, supported by vast wealth 
gained from her American colonies, built a won¬ 
derful navy and 
was the proud mis- 
tress of the sea. 

Her land domain 
was also wide and 
among her posses¬ 
sions was Holland, 
or the Nether¬ 
lands. The Span¬ 
ish yoke was gall- 
ing to the free- 
spirited Holland¬ 
ers, who were 
largely of the Prot¬ 
estant faith, while 
their rulers were 
Catholic. This dif¬ 
ference of religious opinion led to a war, during 
which the Spaniards tried to destroy the Prot¬ 
estant faith with the fires of persecution. 

In their extremity the Hutch were aided by the 
English. This roused the enmity of Spain which 
was intensified by troubles at sea between the 
crews of the Spanish galleons and those of the 
English vessels. 





196 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Drake and a relative named John Hawkins en¬ 
gaged in the negro slave trade, kidnaping their 
victims along the African coasts and selling them 
in the West Indies to toil on the plantations of 
the Spanish nobles. Spain, jealous of the grow¬ 
ing English trade in slaves, worried the English 
vessels commanded by Drake and Hawkins. 

In revenge for these annoyances, Drake turned 
privateer and captured Spanish vessels carrying 
rich cargoes of gold and silver from the West In¬ 
dies to Spain. So successful were Drake’s raids 
upon the Spanish ships and such was the terror 
that he inspired that he was called the 4 ‘Dragon 
of the Seas.” 

The most famous of the privateering expedi¬ 
tions of this greatest seaman of these times of 
stirring maritime adventure, was the one he made 
in 1577 in which he repeated the exploit of Magel¬ 
lan and circumnavigated the globe. This was the 
main object of the venture, but it was kept secret 
from the men of the fleet. While willing to cruise 
along the Atlantic coast watching for Spanish 
ships, they yet feared to venture the dangers of 
the little known Pacific. 

It was not till the fleet of four vessels was well 
out at sea that the object of the voyage was re¬ 
vealed. At once the men were up in arms and 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 197 

a mutiny resulted. Drake did not parley with the 
rebels. He made a landing and executed the chief 
offender. This course of action had a wholesome 
effect on the sailors and order was restored. 

Putting out to sea again, Drake followed the 
line of the South American coast to the Strait of 
Magellan, encountering at this point one of he 
awful storms that prevail in that region. In this 
storm one of his vessels deserted, the frightened 
commander making off for Spain. Two other ves¬ 
sels became separated from the leader, who was 
thus left with but one ship, the Pelican, in which 
to pursue his voyage. A writer describes the pas¬ 
sage through the strait thus: “The passage is 
seventy miles long, tortuous and dangerous. 
They had no charts. Icy mountains overhung 
them on either side, heavy snow fell below. They 
brought up occasionally at an island to rest the 
men and let them kill a few seals and penguins 
for fresh food. Everything was new, wild and 
wonderful. Having to feel their way, they were 
weeks in getting through.’’ 

When they finally reached the Pacific, they 
found themselves facing another terrific storm 
which drove them to the vicinity of Cape Horn, 
where the mighty oceans merge into one. Bat¬ 
tered about by the stormy seas, Drake finally put 


198 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


into harbor and lingered in the icy region till 
spring opened up. He then set sail in a northerly 
direction to cross the Pacific. 

And now it was that the chase for treasure be¬ 
gan. The pirates had many exciting adventures. 
In one place they raided a great Spanish treas¬ 
ure ship and obtained four hundred pounds of 
gold. In another instance the spry little Pelican 
chased a great galleon for over eight hundred 
miles, finally running it down, capturing an 
enormous treasure of gold, silver and jewels. At 
a certain quay the god of sleep aided the daring 
pirate, by casting a drowsy spell over a company 
of workmen, who, all unconscious that the 
Dragon of the Seas was at hand, slumbered 
peacefully beside huge bars of silver. These were 
worth about a half a million ducats (over a mil¬ 
lion dollars). Drake kindly refrained from 
waking the slumberers and had the treasure 
noiselessly transferred to the hold of the Pelican. 
And then once more he made for the open seas. 

Every place he encountered a treasure ship he 
relieved it of its load; at every stop he made on 
the coast he pillaged some settlement. 

Finally, satisfied with his plunder, he set out 
for home. And now in addition to the dangers of 
the seas, he had to face the dangers of pursuit by 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 199 

Spanish vessels which were by this time on his 
track. Drake, shrewd and cunning, neatly out- 
witted his 
pursuers. 

Following 
the western 
Am e r ic an 
coast, hoping 
to find a pas- 
sage at the 
north end 
through 
which he 
might get 
back into the 
Atlantic, 
he finally 
reached Van- 
couver. In 
this latitude 
the bitter 
cold caused 
the sailors to turn westward and make for the 
Philippines as Magellan had done years before. 

In the course along the coast Drake put in for 
repairs at a place near what is now San Fran¬ 
cisco. Here he claimed the land for the queen by 









200 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


nailing to a post a plate bearing her name. Once 
more he set out, this time to cross the seemingly 
boundless Pacific. 

After weeks of sailing he reached the Philip¬ 
pines and the famous Spice Islands. Continuing 
his journey from these points, he wormed his way 
southward, and, rounding the Cape of Good 
Hope, reached the Atlantic. Now the sailors felt 
that “Home, Sweet Home,” was near. 

In the fall of 1580, three years after she sailed 
away, the dauntless little Pelican rode into har¬ 
bor. Drake had circumnavigated the globe. He 
had plowed an English furrow round the earth. 
All England was in the wildest excitement over 
the event. Bells rang, guns roared, and people 
cheered. Rumor, as usual, exaggerated the story 
of Drake’s exploits and magnified a hundredfold 
the treasure he had brought back. The queen, in 
royal state, honored his ship with a visit. For her 
entertainment Drake had a splendid banquet 
spread during the progress of which he related 
his adventures so entertainingly that the queen 
was convulsed with laughter. 

After the feast was eaten he showed her the 
wonderful jewels he had captured among which 
were precious diamonds, priceless rubies, and em¬ 
eralds as large as pigeon eggs. These he presented 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 201 


to her and in reward she knighted him on the 
spot. So thereafter he was known as Sir Francis 
Drake. He was also presented with a coat of arms 
which represented a ship on a globe. His vessel, 
the Pelican, was renamed the Golden Hind. A 
chair made from the wood of the Golden Hind is 
still preserved in Oxford University. If it could 
speak it would tell you the tales I have told and 
many more besides. 

Though England was delighted with Drake’s 
exploits and booty, Spain was not. But she had a 
new and deeper grievance as time went on. The 
situation in Holland between the Spanish and the 
Dutch had grown very tense. The Dutch resisted 
Spanish authority stubbornly, and England lent 
them aid. Enraged at this, Philip, the king, de¬ 
termined to destroy the English power. 

In order to accomplish this purpose, he began 
preparing a tremendous fleet for the invasion of 
England. The English knew of the preparations 
and were much alarmed, but Sir Francis Drake 
decided to cause a little delay in the action. 
Learning that many of the Spanish vessels were 
anchored in the port of Cadiz, the bold pirate, in 
command of a fleet of small, swift vessels, 
swooped down on the Spanish fleet like a thun¬ 
derbolt out of a clear sky, fired one hundred and 


202 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


fifty of the ships and swiftly sailed away, almost 
before the surprised Spaniards had time to come 

to their senses. Sir 
Francis Drake 
laughed. “ I singed 
the beard of the 
King of Spain 
right neatly that 
time,” he said. 

Philip did not 
like the singe¬ 
ing and at once set 
about getti n g 
ready to avenge 
the deed. He had 
another fleet pre¬ 
pared which was 
known as the “ In¬ 
vincible Armada,” 
because the Spaniards believed that the large and 
splendid vessels composing it could never be 
beaten. At this second preparation all England 
was again aroused, and mighty efforts were put 
forth to be prepared for the attack. Private ves¬ 
sels were fitted out to join those prepared by the 
government. The land resounded to the tramp of 
troops on the way to camps to be drilled for serv- 






ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 203 

ice, for every male between the ages of sixteen 
and sixty was drafted to serve. The queen her¬ 
self, dressed in armor and mounted on a white 
horse, addressed the army, urging the men to do 
their best. Many arrangements were made 
w r hereby the news of the Armada’s arrival was 
to be announced. 

The approach of the imposing fleet, arranged 
in the form of a half moon seven miles broad, was 
first sighted by a Scotch seaman who hastened to 
give the alarm. Instantly the land was ablaze 
with signal lights and ringing with bugle blasts. 
The poet tells of the affair in these stirring 
verses: 

Then bugle’s note and cannon’s roar 
The deathlike silence broke, 

And with one start and with one cry 
The royal city woke. 

At once in all her stately gates 
Arose the answering fires, 

At once the wild alarum clashed 
From all her reeling spires. 

From all the batteries of the Tower 
Pealed loud the voice of fear, 

And all the thousand masts of Thames 
Sent back a louder cheer. 

Excitement reigned supreme. All was hurry 
and bustle. 


204 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


From e’en the farthest wards was heard 
The rush of hurrying feet, 

And the broad streams of pikes and flags 
Rushed down each roaring street. 

And broader still became the blaze 
And louder still the din, 

And fast from every village ’round 
The horse came riding in. 

The news was true. The Armada with its pon¬ 
derous galleons had reached the Channel. The 
proud Spaniards expected easily to destroy the 
English fleet, which numbered but half as many 
ships, and those light craft. 

But a surprise awaited them. Drake, Hawkins, 
Howard, Frobisher, Raleigh and Winter were on 
the scene. Under their skillful command the light 
English ships darted hither and yon, dealing 
death and destruction to the huge Spanish ves¬ 
sels, which, in the confusion of battle cumbered 
up the Channel and entangled their own move¬ 
ments. 

During the fight a number of fireships were 
dispatched against the ships of the Armada. 
These spread terror and panic among the Span¬ 
iards, who beat a hasty retreat. At once Drake, 
wishing to inform the queen of the victory, sent 
her a message with the single word “Canthar- 
ides.” This means, “The Spanish fly.” 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 205 


In the confusion of the retreat many of the 
enemy ships were caught by British guns and 
sunk. The vessels that succeeded in getting out of 
the Channel tried to make their way home by sail¬ 
ing round the British Isles. They had many 
misfortunes. A tempest rose and wrecked a 
number of the ships. Only a battered remnant 
of the Invincible Armada got back to Spain. 

Absolutely beaten, Spain’s title to supremacy 
was gone forever. Another result of this loss of 
power was the Freedom of Holland, which be¬ 
came known as the United Netherlands. To com¬ 
memorate the glorious victory, the English gov¬ 
ernment ordered a medal issued which bore the 
legend, “ Jehovah blew and they were scattered.” 

The defeat of the Armada had an important 
bearing on the future destiny of America, for it 
crippled the power of Spain and left England 
comparatively free to establish English ideals in 
the New World. 

The first attempts at settlement made by the 
English in the New World were brought about by 
the efforts of Sir Walter Raleigh, a distinguished 
statesman, seaman and writer. Raleigh was a 
great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, whose atten¬ 
tion was first attracted to the courtier by a roman¬ 
tic incident. On a certain occasion the queen was 


206 STEER FOR NEW SHORES 

on her way to her royal barge, which floated on the 
Thames river. At a point on the pathway to 

the wharf, a 
muddy spot caused 
her to pause, puz¬ 
zled how to cross it 
without soiling her 
shoes. Raleigh, 
dressed in the cos¬ 
tume of the period, 
was standing near. 
He wore a tight- 
fitting, lace- 
trimmed doublet 
of velvet, short 
puffed breeches, 
s t arched ruff, a 
velvet cap, with a 
richly embroid¬ 
ered cloak flung over his shoulders. Seeing the 
queen’s predicament he instantly spread his cloak 
over the mud puddle, thus insuring his sovereign 
a clean passage. This act of courtesy led to the 
establishment of Raleigh as a great favorite in 
the queen’s court. 

Raleigh was much interested in the New World 
and wished to plant English colonies there. He 










ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 207 


believed a trade could be established that would 
prove as profitable as Portugal’s trade with 
Cathay. He also wished to lessen the growing 
power of Spain in the new lands. 

Impressed with his ideas, Elizabeth gave him 
permission to make explorations and settlements 
in the lands claimed by the English. In 1584, the 
courtier availed himself of this permission and 
sent out explorers who landed on the coast of 
North Carolina. The lovely land charmed them. 
Flowers bloomed, birds sang, verdant trees were 
festooned with wild grapevines that clambered to 
their very tops, and companies of friendly In¬ 
dians bade them welcome. This place seemed to 
them a Paradise and they so reported on their re¬ 
turn to England. The queen, delighted with their 
story, named the land Virginia in honor of her¬ 
self, the Virgin Queen. For his share in manag¬ 
ing the expedition, Raleigh was made a knight. 

The next year Raleigh sent out a number of set¬ 
tlers to found a permanent colony. These settlers, 
however, became gold greedy, and set out to 
search for the luring metal and also to seek the 
much talked of passage to the Pacific. They met 
with the usual hardships that befell all the gold 
seekers of those days. Finally,- on the verge of 
starvation, they were rescued by Sir Francis 


208 


STEER FOR NEW SHORES 


Drake, who touched at their settlement while on 
one of his privateering expeditions. 

On their return to England the settlers carried 
with them two plants destined to exert a tre¬ 
mendous influence in the world. These were the 
tobacco and potato plants. The English had 
learned from the Indians to smoke tobacco, which 
the red men declared cured tired feelings. 
Whether this was true or not, many persons in 
England, both men and women, were soon ex¬ 
perimenting with the weed. 

Raleigh was one of these. His pipe had prob¬ 
ably a walnut shell for a bowl and a straw for a 
stem. Raleigh liked to puff the smoke through 
his nostrils. One day his servant, seeing him do¬ 
ing this, imagined his master was on fire and 
obligingly threw a pitcher of water over him to 
extinguish the fire. 

Raleigh had a good joke with the queen about 
his tobacco. He made a wager with her that he 
could tell how much the smoke weighed. She did 
not believe he could do this. To prove his point 
the courtier weighed his tobacco before putting 
it in the pipe and after he had smoked it he 
weighed the ashes. The difference in weight, he 
declared must be the weight of the smoke. The 
lady, amused, agreed that she had lost the wager. 


ENGLISH VENTURES IN THE NEW WORLD 209 


None of Raleigh’s efforts at colonizing the new 
lands were successful, but they were of value for 
they kept the attention of England centered on 
America as a desirable colony ground, and roused 
the interest that grew till permanent English set¬ 
tlements were made there. When that era arrived, 
one of the most important periods in the history 
of the world dawned. It was to be a period 
marked, not by mere love of adventure or a hope 
for easy wealth, but by a deep desire to establish 
permanent homes in a land from whose ports 
Liberty would eventually enlighten the world. 



































INDEX 

AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 


Acadia, 179 

Acropolis, hill in Athens, 17; 
temple on, 17; theater on, 17, 
26 

Africa, 58, 60, 62, 65, 97, 119, 130 
Alexander the Great, trade in 
time of, 55 

Alexander (Pope), line of demar¬ 
cation fixed by, 118 
Alexandria, 57 

Algon'quins, 108; offended by 
Champlain, 180-181 
Alhambra, palace of Moors, 76; 

flag torn from, 76 
Alphabet, invented by Egyptians, 
12; borrowed by Phoenicians, 
13; spread of, 13 
America, 9, 10, 24, 25, 33; discov¬ 
ered by Columbus, 86; Cabots 
landed in, 117; named, 121 
Antipodes, 25, 73 
Arabia, 111 
Arabian Sea, 57 
Armada, fleet of Spain, 202; de¬ 
struction of, 204, 205 
Asia, 26, 60, 69, 111, 122 
Athe'na, statue of, 17 
Atlantic, traditions of, 27-32, 55, 
67, 122 

Atlantis, story of, 29-32 
Azores (a zorz'), 142 
Az'tecs, civilization of, 143-147 

BalbS'a, story of discovery of 
Pacific by, 123-129, 131 
Barcelona, reception for Colum¬ 
bus at, 90-93 
Brazil, 118, 119 
Buffaloes, 151, 157 


Burning Zone, description of, 27, 
29 

Cabot, John, early travels of, 111; 
voyage of, 111-114, 120, 131, 
192 

Cabot, Sebastian, voyage of, 115- 
117 

Cabral, Brazil discovered by, 119 
Cadiz, Spanish ships burned in 
harbor of, 201, 202 
California, 171 
Canada, 176, 187 
Canaries, 68, 79 
Canary Islands, 31, 80 
Canoes, boats of Indians, 103 
Cape of Storms, 60 
Cartier (kar tya'), expedition of, 
175; Gulf of St. Lawrence dis¬ 
covered by, 176; Canada named 
by, 176; St. Lawrence River 
discovered by, 178 
Caspian Sea, 57 

Cathay', 38, 39, 65, 66, 79, 83, 88, 
116, 178 

Cavalier (ka va lya'), see 
La Salle 

Champlain (sham plan), expedi¬ 
tion of, 178; Port Royal set¬ 
tled by, 179; Order of Mirth 
organized by, 179; settlement 
at Quebec made by, 179; Lake 
Champlain discovered by, 180 
Chicago, 99, 188 
Christians, 24, 46, 47, 57 
China, 38, 186, 187 
Cibola, Pueblo village, 154, 157 
Cipan'go, 41, 89 

Colorado, Grand Canyon of, 156, 
157, 171 


211 


212 


INDEX 


Columbus, 32, 33, 37, 39, 43, 45, 
54, 61; boyhood of, 63, 64; 
marriage of, 64; maps and 
books studied by, 65; aims 
of, 67; mistakes of, 69; 
in Portugal, 69, 70; in Genoa, 
70, 71; in Spain, 71-78; ves¬ 
sels of, 77; voyage of, 79-84; 
land seen by, 86; landing of, 
86, 87; explorations of, 88, 89; 
return of, 90; reception at Bar¬ 
celona for, 91-93; other voy¬ 
ages of, 93-95; wrongs of, 96; 
death of, 98, 111, 112, 130, 166 
Compass, invention of, 54; bene¬ 
fits of, 55; poem about, 55 
Constantinople, captured by 
Turks, 57 

Cordova, Columbus at, 71, 72 
Coronado (ko ro na'do), 39; 
search for golden cities by, 155, 
156; discovery of Grand 
Canyon by, 156; search for 
Quivera by, 157, 158; opinion 
of, 159; conclusion of Span¬ 
iards, 165 

Cortez, 140; Mexico conquered by, 
143-149, 173 

Crusades, religious wars, 46, 47; 
results of, 48 

Crevecoeur (crav'ker), fort 
erected by La Salle, 187; de¬ 
struction of, 188 
Cuba, 89. 143, 159, 161 

Da ri en', 124, 129 
Davis, Captain John, 193 
De So'to, 140; governor of Cuba, 
159; search for Eldorado by, 
160; adventures in Florida, 

160, 161; cruelty to Indians of, 

161, 162; discovery of Missis¬ 
sippi by, 163; death and burial 
of, 164, 165 

Diaz (de'as), voyage of, 60, 61, 
63; voyage to Cape, 97 
Drake, Sir Francis, childhood of, 
194; circumnavigation of the 
globe, 196; passage through 
Straits of Magellan by, 197; 


storms met by, 197; chase for 
Spanish treasure by, 198; Pa¬ 
cific crossed by, 199, 200; Phil¬ 
ippines reached by, 200; return 
to England of, 200; entertain¬ 
ments and honors for, 200; 
knighted by queen, 201; helped 
defeat Armada, 204; message 
to queen, 204 

Egypt, valley of Nile, 11, 24, 
30, 51 

Egyptians, inventors of alphabet, 
12, 13 

El do ra'do, search for by De 
Soto, 160 

Elizabeth, 192, 194 

England, seeks Cathay, 111, 116; 
claims of, 192; Drake’s ex¬ 
ploits, 201; settlers return to, 
208; interest in New World, 
209 

Er'ic the Red, exiled from Ice¬ 
land, 34; discovered Greenland, 
35 

Eskimo Indians, 100, 103 

Fair God, legend of, 147, 148 

Ferdinand, 167 

Florida, named by Ponce de Leon, 
142; adventures of De Soto in, 
160 

Fo'rum, public square of Rome, 
20 

Francis I, 173 

Frob'Isher, 193, 204 

Fron'te nac, governor of Canada, 
182 

Fust, John, partner of Gutenberg, 
52 

Gama, Vas'co da, voyage of, 96- 
98, 131, 192 

Genoa (jen'oa), war between 
Venice and, 42; trade of, 56; 
northern trade route controlled 
by, 57; birthplace of Columbus, 
63, 64, 70, 115 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, story of, 
194 


INDEX 


213 


Grand Canyon, discovered by 
Coronado, 156 

Granada, siege of, 75; Columbus 
at, 76 

Greece, 22, 49 

Greeks, 13; taught world love of 
beauty, 15, 24 
Greenland, 35, 36, 118 
Gunpowder, 53; use of, 54 
Gutenberg (god'ten berg), print¬ 
ing press invented by, 49; story 
of invention by, 51-53 

Hav an'a, remains of Columbus 
taken to, 99 

Hawkins, slave trader, 196, 204 
Haiti (ha'ti), colony located at, 
90, 167 

Hebrews, history of, recorded in 
Old Testament, 15 
Henry VII, assisted Cabots, 112 
Hieroglyphics (hi er 5 gllf'ics), 
picture writing of Egyptians, 
12 

Holland, troubles of Spain and, 
195; freedom of, 205 

Iceland, found by Northmen, 33; 

saga of, 36 
Il'iad, 18 

India, trade with, 38; northern 
trade route from, 56, 57; 

southern trade route from, 57, 
58, 60, 178, 192 

Indians, named by Columbus, 87; 
frightened by Columbus, 89- 
90; tribes and manner of life 
of, 100-110, 142-144; adventure 
of De Vaca with, 150-153; ad¬ 
ventures of De Soto with, 161, 
162; 171; Cartier among, 175 
Indies, Columbus believed he had 
found, 87; wealth of, 117 
Iroquois (ir 5 kwoi'), 108; war 
with Algonquins, 180 
Isabella receives Columbus, 77, 98 
Italy, 56, 58 

Japan, 41, 69, 79 

Jerusalem, temple of Solomon at, 


14; captured by Turks, 46; 
persecutions of Christians in, 
47 

Jesus, fo u n d e r of Christian 
faith, 15, 20, 46 

John II, Cape of Good Hope 
named by, 60; appealed to by 
Columbus, 70 

Joliet (zho lya'), fur trader, 182; 
travels of, with Marquette, 183- 
185 

Jude'a, Roman province, 22 

Kublai Khan (koo'bli kan), em¬ 
peror of Cathay, 39; appear¬ 
ance of, 40; realms of, 41; 
palace of, 41; Columbus talked 
of, 81, 141 

Labrador, Sebastian Cabot at, 115 
Ladrones', The, 137 
La Rabida, Convent of, Columbus 
at, 75, 76 

Las Ca sas, missionary, 168; re¬ 
lations with Indians, 168, 169 
La Salle (la sal'), visit to Ohio 
River, 186; first vessel to sail 
Great Lakes launched by, 187; 
Fort Crevecceur erected by, 
188; hardships endured by, 
188; Louisiana claimed by, 
189; death of, 190 
Leif (lef), adventures of, 35-37, 
113 

Leon, Ponce de, search for foun¬ 
tain of youth by, 139-143; 
Florida named by, 142, 166 
Line of demarcation, fixed by 
Pope, 118; questioned by Fran¬ 
cis I, 173 
London, 115 

Longfellow, poet, quoted, 102, 
105, 110 

Louisiana (155 e ze an'fi), 
claimed by La Salle, 189 

Mackinac, 182, 184 
Magellan (ma jel'an), appear¬ 
ance of, 131; early voyages of, 


214 


INDEX 


131; helped by Spain, 132; 
voyage along Atlantic coast, 
133; hardships endured by, 
134, 135; discovery of strait 
by, 134, 135; voyage across 
Pacific by, 135; landing at 
Philippines of, 136; death of, 
137 

Mandeville, Sir John, stories told 
by, 44, 45, 66 

Marcos, Friar, search for rich 
cities by, 154, 155 
Marquette (mar ket), missionary 
labors of, 182; explorations of, 
183-185; death and burial of, 
185 

Mexico, arrival of Cortez at, 143; 

arms of, 145, 149, 153, 166 
Mississippi, de Vaca at mouth of, 
150; discovered by De Soto, 
163, 164, 177 
Moccasins, 101 

Montezu'ma, ruler of Aztecs, 144; 

death of, 148, 149 
Montgomery, James, poet, quoted, 
55 

Montreal', 177, 178, 186, 188 

Narvaez (nar va'eth), expedition 
of, 150 

Newfoundland, 36; Cartier at, 
175, 176; Sir Humphrey Gilbert 
at, 194 
Niag'ara, 187 
Nina (nen ya), 78, 89 
Northmen, description of, 33, 37 
Norway, 33 
Nova Scotia, 36, 113 

Obelisks, 11 

Octopus, many-armed creature, 20 
Ohio River, 184; sailed on by 
La Salle, 186 

Pacific, 123; discovered by Bal¬ 
boa, 127; named by Magellan, 
136 

Pal'estine, land of the Hebrews, 
13 

Palos, Columbus at, 71, 75; Co¬ 


lumbus sailed from, 78, 86; 
Columbus returned to, 90 
Panama, 124; Balboa crossed, 
126, 127 

Papoose, Indian baby, 102 
Parthe'non, description of, 17 
Phidias (fid'i as), sculptor, 17 
Philippines, Magellan landed in, 
137; Drake landed in, 200 
Phoenicians (fe nish'anz), traders, 
13 

Pinta (pen'ta), 77, 79 
Pinzon, Alonzo, Columbus helped 
by, 76; his ship disabled, 79; 
Columbus deserted by, 89 
Pla'to, story of Atlantis told by, 
29 

Polo, Marco, adventures of, 39- 
42; book written by, 42; story 
told by, 44; Columbus read 
book of, 66 

Portugal, 59, 60, 96, 173, 192 
Prince Henry the Navigator, 
story of, 58, 59 

Ptolemy (tol'e mi), believed earth 
is round, 26; map made by, 28, 
66, 67, 83 

Pyramids, tombs of Egyptian 
kings, 11 

Quebec, 178 

Quivera, Indian village, 157 

Raleigh (ro li), favorite of Queen 
Elizabeth, 205, 206; voyage of, 
207; Virginia claimed by, 207; 
attempts at colonies by, 207, 
208 

Renaissance (ren" e sans'), revi¬ 
val of learning, 48 
Romans, 13, 21; laws of, 21, 24 
Roman Empire, destroyed by Teu¬ 
tons, 46 

Rome, represented by octopus, 20; 
spread civilization of Greece, 
22, 48 

St. Augustine, founded by Spain, 
166 

St. Brandan, story of, 32, 67 


INDEX 


215 


St. Ignace, mission of Marquette 
at, 182; burial of Marquette at, 
185 

St. Lawrence, gulf of, discovered 
by Cartier, 176 

St. Lawrence River, discovered by 
Cartier, 176; scenery of, 176 
Salamanca, Columbus at, 72 
Santa Maria (ma re'a), 78, 89 
Santo Domingo, 99, 123 
San Salvador, 87 
Sargasso Sea, bed of seaweed in 
Atlantic, 31; vessels of Colum¬ 
bus entangled in, 82 
Seminoles, wild Indians of 
Florida, 150 
Solomon, 14, 15, 193 
Sphinxes, 11 

Squaws, female Indians, 102 

Tenochtitlan (ten ok tit lan), city 
of Aztecs, 145, 146 
Teutons (tu'tons), tribes of 
northern Europe, 22; free gov¬ 
ernment taught by, 22; election 
by, 23, 24 
Texas, 190 

Toscanelli (tos ka nel'le), Paolo, 


writes to Columbus, 66; Colum¬ 
bus studied map of, 81; errors 
in map of, 93 

Trinidad, named by Columbus, 95 

Triumph, celebration of Roman 
victory, 21 

Turks, 46; Constantinople cap¬ 
tured by, 57 

Ultima Thule, farthest point 
north, 26; 27 

Vaca, Cabeza de (ka va'tha de 
va'ca), adventures of, 150-153 

Venice, 39, 42; trade of, 56; 
Southern trade route controlled 
by, 57, 115 

Verrazano (ver"rat sa'no), Rhode 
Island named by, 174, 175, 178 

Vespucius (ves pu'shus), educa¬ 
tion of, 119; voyage of, 120, 
121; New World named for, 
121, 131 

Virginia, named by Elizabeth, 
207 

Watling Island, 87 




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